Coroner
by HikaruHitachiin1957
Summary: Ever since his father's sudden disappearance, Hikaru's life has taken a dark turn. With his mom turning to alcohol and becoming abusive, Hikaru becomes arrogant and reckless. Not letting anyone get too close to him. Tired of his behavior, the principal sets him up with Haruhi Fujioka, who just might be able to break through the thick protective wall he has up.
1. Chapter 1

I sat in a chair with my leg propped up on the side in the principal's office, chewing on a piece of mint gum. I was giving the senior principal Yuzuru Suoh an obnoxious smirk as I played with my leather jacket. Yuzuru pushed up his reading glasses then intertwined his fingers.

"So, what brings you to my office again this week Mr. Hitachiin?"

"Oh you know, just another little situation a teacher took as a big deal."

"I'm pretty sure getting into a fight where you knock the kid out because he accidentally bumped into you is a big deal."

I just rolled my eyes and looked at my nails. "He had it fucking coming. Just because he's the fucking quarterback of the football team doesn't mean he gets to treat me badly."

"He accidently bumped into you and apologize."

"So, he probably didn't mean it. It was still rude and someone needed to put him in his place."

Yuzuru pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed out of frustration. "Hikaru, you've been pushing everyone's buttons lately and we're all getting tired of it. Getting into fights, skipping class, cheating, smoking in the bathroom, wearing a leather jacket instead of your uniform blazer or sweater vest, rumors of you and a female student having sex behind the bleachers…"

"Which are false." I stated.

He looked back up at me and sighed again. He then grabbed his cup of coffee that was next to him and brought it up to his lips.

"I promise you Hikaru that you're going to be the end of me." He said as he took a sip of the bitter liquid. I just continued to smirk as he set his cup down. "You know I have to give you another punishment because the one I gave you last time isn't working. I bet your brother is really upset that you couldn't go on that semester long trip to New York because you were caught smoking in the bathroom again."

I shrugged my shoulders. "Eh, he wished that I could've gone, but we've been to New York plenty of times so I didn't mind not being able to go."

Yuzuru took off his glasses and set them on his desk. "I swear, ever since you father left a couple years ago, you've been doing nothing but try and get in trouble."

My smirk turned into a glare as I heard him talk about my father.

"My father has nothing to do about this!" I growled.

"Hikaru, I'm not trying to talk bad about your father, but you know…"

"Like I told you before, my fucking father has nothing to do about this. So I would appreciate if you stoped talking about him."

Yuzuru put his hands up in defeat. "Alright, I'm sorry that I brought him up. But we still need to come up with a punishment for you."

I just rolled my eyes and leaned back in the chair as I continued to play with my jacket and chew my gum. Yuzuru pulled out a file from his desk and opened it, looking at the papers.

"I see that you're failing three of your classes. History, English, and math, which is very unacceptable." I just continued to play with my jacket, barely listening to him. "So for your punishment, I'm going to make you go to tutoring."

"Whatever." I grumbled.

Yuzuru smirked. "And if you don't show up to your sessions, then you'll be expelled."

My eyes widened and looked up at him. "What?!"

"And you can't switch with Kaoru when he come back because you dyed your hair. So I'm glad I won't have to worry about that." His smirk grew as he continued. "And I also emailed your mother about everything that happened today, so I'm sure she'll be really happy about that."

I leaned all the way back in my chair and crossed my arms over my chest like a little kid. "Fucking bastard." I muttered under my breath.

"What was that?"

"Nothing."

He smiled. "Great." He wrote something down on a green slip and handed it to me. "You'll meet the honor student Haruhi Fujioka in the library tomorrow after school to start your tutoring." I glared at the green slip as Yuzuru continued. "I hope that I won't have to see you in my office again, but I know I shouldn't keep my hopes up."

I just rolled my eyes again and grabbed my bag before standing up.

"Whatever." I grumbled as I walked out of the office.

I walked passed some of the school secretaries, who have also gotten to know me pretty well over the years.

One of the secretaries with glasses and brown hair tied up in a messy bun looked up at me. "Have a nice day Mr. Hitachiin."

I smirked and winked at her. "I will, see you next week Yuki."

Yuki rolled her eyes and went back to work as I walked out into the hallway. I looked at the green slip again and groaned before putting it in my pocket and began walking down the hall. All the students around me who were outside their classrooms looked at me and began whispering to each other. I just ignored them and kept walking.

I didn't really have any friends, which I didn't mind at all. All I need was Kaoru and I was fine. Kaoru though did have friends, but they were sometimes afraid to come near him because I was always around him. Kaoru also was in a club called the Host Club, which he would go to almost every day after school. They were men with too much time on their hands who entertain ladies who also had too much time on their hands, or that's what they told me when I was in there. I was a part of the club in the beginning, but because of my bad actions, mostly calling the customers whores, the club leader kicked me out. I didn't really care, I would just usually smoke or play on my phone while I waited for Kaoru to finish up with the day's club activities. But since Kaoru was in New York for the semester, i would just go home. I didn't mind being alone at school, but I would sometimes want to talk to someone, but when did, they would never really respond and leave out of fright. Then I would be alone again.

I sighed sadly, shaking the thought out of my head. I took out my phone and looked at the time, it was about five minutes into my last class. I could ditch, which I usually did when I was late to class, but I was already in enough shit as is, and I didn't want to deal with Yuzuru anymore today.

I blew a bubble with my gum and put my phone back in my pocket as I began making my way to my history class. I took my time walking, walking slowly with long strides and my hands in my back pants pockets as if I were a kid bored trying to entertain himself. History wasn't my favorite subject, so I didn't care how much of the class I missed, but the class wasn't that far from the office, so it wouldn't take long to get there.

After a couple minutes of slowly strolling down the hall, I made it to my history class. I opened the door with some force, not caring if I was interrupting the class. The teacher stopped teaching the lesson and looked towards the door, glaring when he saw it was me.

"Mr. Hitachiin." He said as he crossed his arms. "I'm glad to see that you finally joined us."

I smirked at him. "Well, that makes one of us Mr. Hirota."

"Take your seat." His glare hardened. "And lose the jacket."

I rolled my eyes and walked over to my seat in the back near the window, next to that honor student. I took of my jacket and placed it on the back of my chair before I sat down. Mr. Hirota went back to teaching the lesson and I just leaned back in my chair. I looked over at the honor student, who of course was absorbed into the lesson. Kaoru told me about her being a girl, which surprised me a bit when I first saw her, but that was last year, and now I could see it.

I actually accidently started a rumor that she was a girl when I was talking to Kaoru on the phone late last year, but Haruhi didn't seem to mind. She told Kaoru that she was actually relieved that she didn't have to hide her gender anymore.

She now had her hair up to the bottom of her neck and looked more feminine. She still usually wore the male uniform and I didn't blame her, the dresses the female students had to wear were a fucking monstrosity. But she sometimes wore her old oversized sweater and pants with her old glasses, which I guess she wore when she didn't want to get ready in the morning, like today.

I guess that I was staring at her for a while and she felt my stare. She looked over at me and our eyes met. We just stared at each other for a bit as if we were in a staring contest. She gave me a confused look, wondering why I was staring at her. I continued to stare at her, slightly squinting my eyes as if I was trying to focus on something, then smirked at her before looking back at the board. I drummed my fingers on the desk, leaning back in my chair while I had my arm propped on the back of my chair. I blew a bubble with my gum and popped it, the pop was louder than I intended it to be didn't seem to bug anyone.

I heard slight giggling to my right, I looked over to see two girls who sat in the two desks next to Haruhi talking to each other, pointing at me as they giggled. They saw that I was looking at them and gave me a flirty wave. I just rolled my eyes for what felt like the umpteenth time and looked away from them, hearing them giggling again. Even if a lot of the students at school feared me, there were still some girls who were into me, and some would take extreme measures to be with me, even if it's following me into the bathroom, which I forced them out of. I guess they're attracted to my "bad boy" attitude and think that I'll fuck them in the restroom or some shit like that. Which I wouldn't ever do. Most of these girls at this school are just looking to get laid, and I guess they think I'll be an easy guy. Well' they're wrong and the reactions they give me when I refuse is priceless because they were really looking forward to it I guess.

I let out a sigh and put my head in my hand, closing my eyes, trying to get the time to pass faster. I guess it worked because the next thing I knew something was slammed down on my desk, waking me up. My eyes eyes shot open and I saw that Mr. Hirota had slammed a textbook on my desk, his expression was angry that his eyebrows were giving him more wrinkles that he already had.

"Did you have a nice nap Mr. Hitachiin?"

I rubbed my eyes and yawned. "I did until you interrupted it. How long was I out?"

"For about forty-five minutes, we have ten minutes left in class."

I groaned and put my head down, snuggling my head in my arms. "Wake me up in ten minutes."

Mr. Hirota growled and began walking back to his desk. "I always pray that one day we'll have a decent day with you Mr. Hitachiin."

I hummed a laugh as I got more comfortable. "Keep praying."

He just rolled his eyes and went back to teaching the lesson. I tried to go back to sleep, but I couldn't because I was now wide awake after Mr. Hirota slammed the book on my desk. I huffed slightly as I turned my head to the side and saw Haruhi again. She was still absorbed in the teacher's lesson, writing down notes nonstop as if she was copying down everything he said word by word.

I don't get why she loved school so much, I literally couldn't wait to get out of this shit hole, but there are always people like her who just love it here. I hated people like her.

I just stared at her, glaring at her in disgust. She pushed up her glasses that were slipping down her nose with her free hand. She pushed some stray hairs behind her ear and noticed me staring at her again. She rolled her eyes over to look at me, cocking an eyebrow at me confused why I was glaring at her, but just shrugged and continued writing down notes.

Haruhi and I only had one full conversation at most, and that was when we were both waiting for Kaoru while he was talking to a teacher, and our conversation was really awkward and we haven't really talked since. I would give her the occasional scowl when she would talk to Kaoru for too long, but other than that we would never really acknowledge each other's existence.

The bell rang and Mr. Hirota passed out the homework. He looked down at me as he placed the paper on my desk.

"Maybe you'll actually do your homework Mr. Hitachiin."

"Who knows." I said as I placed the paper in my bag and got up. "Maybe I'll surprise you."

I grabbed my jacket and put it on, then grabbed my bag and left the classroom. I would usually wait for Kaoru around campus until he got out of his club, but because he was in New York I could just go home, which I was really happy about.

I exited the school and made my way to my black mustang in the parking lot. I threw my bag in the passenger seat and got into my car, starting it up. I sighed, feeling the stress of everything that happened today finally hit me. I reached into my pocket and pulled out a box of cigarettes and my lighter.

When I was younger I was strictly against smoking from what my father told me how sick he got when he smoked. But after his sudden disappearance, they were the only things that made me feel better. My mom was having her own problems and couldn't help me, and Kaoru didn't know how to make me feel better when he himself was dealing with the same issue, so he left me alone while I spiraled out of control.

I lit the cigarette and took a puff of smoke, opening my window a bit to let the smoke out, then began driving home.

* * *

I pulled up to my house and parked on the curb next to my driveway. I looked up at my house, because my dad was no longer around we didn't bring in as much money as before. My mom was still a successful fashion designer, but she only produced one line a year now, two at the most. So because we were getting less money, we moved out of our old mansion and moved into a regular house. It was still pretty big, it was a two-story wooden house, with an oak tree in the front yard, which was a bitch to clean up during the fall, but it brought life to the old house. The house looked pretty creepy, the wood was not painted and looked dilapidated, when you stepped on the porch it would make a creaking sound and we had to sand down the railing so we wouldn't get splinters. Also, when it's winter and the oak tree lost all its leaves it didn't help the creepy vibe.

Whenever Kaoru brought home a classmate or friend they would all think that our house was haunted. We first denied that it was, but soon went along with the whole haunting bit and would scare people, which made them refuse to come back thinking we had a killer ghost that is after them.

I burned out my cigarette in the ashtray in my car and grabbed my bag from the passenger seat. I got out of my car and made my way to the front door. I pulled out my keys from my pocket and used the house key to open the door, but I was not prepared to see what was inside.

When I opened the door, I was horrified to see the living room trashed. Furniture was turned over and broken, trash from the garbage and shredded paper were on the floor along with glass.

"Wh-What the fuck happened here?" I then noticed empty beer cans and bottle all around the room, my stomach dropped. "No…" I dropped my bag on the floor and ran up the stairs as fast as I could. "No! No! No! No!" I ran up to my mother's door and tried to open it, but it was locked. "Shit!" I began pounding on the door while I continued trying to open it. "Mom are you in there?! What's wrong?! Please let me in!" There was no answer from the other side and I began to panic. "Mom!"

When my dad was first gone, my mom started drinking. It was first one or two drinks a night, but it soon spiraled out of control when she realized drinking temporarily made her feelings go away, and it soon turned into an addiction. When she was sober she was the best mom, she would give us hugs even if we didn't want them, help us with some problems and other things like that. She even learned how to cook so we could have homemade meals.

But when my mom was drunk, she was the complete opposite. She would shout at us, hit us, leaving bruises, and break stuff. We soon got her sober after a year of abuse and she promised that she would never have a sip of alcohol again, which Kaoru and I helped with by throwing away all the alcohol, and refused to buy anymore for her. Kaoru and I also made a promise that we would never drink, after seeing the effects that it had our mom, we wanted nothing to do with it.

"Mom!" I called out to her again, still trying to get the door opened.

"Leave me the fuck alone Hikaru!" She yelled drunkenly from the other side.

I let out a sigh of relief hearing her voice, knowing that she was still alive. "Mom what happened, I thought you gave up alcohol? Why are you drinking again?"

"What I do is none of your fucking business! Now leave me alone!"

"Would you at least want anything, like water or food?"

"No!"

I sighed and let go of the door knob, putting my forehead against the door. "Alright, just...just please be careful, ok."

There was no response from the other side, she either passed out or was just ignoring me, but at least she's alive. I made my way back down stairs, seeing the mess. I huffed and pushed my bangs out of my face.

"God, I need another cigarette." I looked down at all the beer cans and bottles. I squatted down and picked up one of the cans, looking at it. "Where did she even get all this fucking beer? We even got all the liquor stores in the county not to sell liquor to her. So how did she get it?"

I just kept staring at the beer can, it was a pretty cheap brand, but I guess she liked it. I got up and walked over to the kitchen, hearing the glass from the broken bottles crunch underneath my boots. I grabbed a trash bag from underneath the kitchen sink and began picking up the cans and bottles. When I picked them all up, I grabbed a broom and pan and began sweeping up the broken glass and wood, then put all the furniture back where it was.

When everything was finally cleaned up I sighed and cracked my back. I looked at the clock and noticed it was 5:25, it took me two hours to clean up everything. God, I missed having maids.

As I was about to go to the couch and watch some TV, I heard footsteps coming down the stairs. She must've finally come out of her room. She walked into the living room and stopped when she saw me. The way she looked broke my heart, I haven't seen her like this in years.

She wore a wrinkled pink nightgown with a blanket around her shoulders. Her hair was disheveled and standing on its own. She had dark circles around her eyes as if she hasn't slept in days and her eyes...her eyes didn't have the motherly spark they always had, they were just...dead.

She gave me a small smile with her cracked lips. "Hey honey, how was school?"

"I-It was good…" I replied.

"I got an email from your principal stating that you got into a fight with another student, is that true?"

I gulped. "Y-Yah…"

"Was it your fault?" She asked in a stern voice.

I began to go scared, feeling hands grow cold and start shaking that I had to ball them up into fists so she would notice. "N-No, he started it…"

She continued to give me a stern look, looking into my eyes to see if I was lying. She soon smiled again. "Well that's good, I hope you let that boy know that he better not mess with you."

She was definitely drunk, she would've never say that if she was sober. She would've scolded me, which I would roll my eyes to as she told me getting into fist fights is not going to bring me anything in life.

"Yah...I did…" I said.

"Well, I'm going to make dinner. What would you like?"

She was always like this when she was drunk, her moods would switch drastically as if the switch to her brain was broken.

"I'm fine mom, I can just make dinner myself." I stated.

"No, no honey I'm the parent, I should be the one making you dinner. Now what would you like." I just stood there silent, not wanting to respond. Mom then snapped her fingers, making me jump. "I know." He smile grew. "Spaghetti is one of your favorite dishes right. Why don't I make that?"

"Mom, please…"

She grabbed my shoulder, making me tense up, and turned me around before leading me to the couch. "Now you just relax while I'll get dinner ready." She slurred as she sat me down, patting my shoulders. "I'll have dinner ready in half an hour."

Before I could object again my mom made her way to the kitchen and began drunkenly getting getting out the pots and ingredients. I watched her carefully from the couch, making sure she doesn't hurt herself or burn the house down, which she almost did. She would leave food on the stove for awhile, while she tried to do something else and I would rush in before it would burn or catch fire. She would also try to cut items with a knife while her hands were shaky from the alcohol. I didn't want her to cut herself so I would take the knife from her and cut the ingredients for her, which she thanked me for helping.

After what felt like forever, dinner was finally finished. I placed all the tableware on the table while mom stumbled over with the food. We sat across from each other at the table and began serving ourselves some food.

"Did you hear that someone finally bought the house across from us?" Mom said.

"Oh, did they?" I asked, pretending to be interested.

"Yah, they even have a daughter around your age, maybe you can finally have a girlfriend."

She chuckled at what she just said while I just watched her, she looked fine right now. Hopefully she'll stay that way.

I put a forkful of noodles in my mouth and tried my best not to make a disgusted face. The noodles were chewy from being overcooked and the sauce was chunky and bland. I don't know how someone could ruin spaghetti, but she did. She was a really good cook when she was sober, but when she was drunk, she cooked like one of those inexperienced chefs on Kitchen Nightmares. I grabbed my drink that was next to me and used it to help me swallow the noodles.

"So, what do you think?" Mom asked as she twirled some noodles on her fork.

I looked at her as I put my drink down. "Umm...It's alright."

Mom's smile fell and her expression turned grimace. "Alright, the food is alright?!"

I flinched as mom shot up from her chair, glaring down at me as she snarled. "You know what?!" She pushed all the dishes off the table, making them crash and break on the floor. "You can make your own fucking dinner from now on!"

I got up from my chair and followed mom as she made her way to the stairs.

"Mom!" I called out as I grabbed her arm, pulling her back. "Mom you need to…"

"You ungrateful child!"

She hit me in the face with the back of her hand. I just stood there shell shocked, turning to look back at her.

"You never appreciate what I fucking give you! You're just like you fucking father, a selfish bastard that only cares about himself!"

After that I just let my mom go, not even trying to make her stay. She never talked about my father like that unless she was drunk, which is when I think she tells the truth about her feelings towards him. I rubbed my cheek that she slapped, still feeling the slight tingle of pain. She hasn't hit me in a long time, but yet I was still use to blocking out the pain.

When this all first started happening I just cried, praying that this would stop and everything would go back to normal. But now I know better, no matter how many times I prayed and cried, it wouldn't help anything.

I looked at the mess my mom made and sighed. I grabbed another trash bag from underneath the kitchen and a roll of napkin with a tube of clorox wipes, then began cleaning up the mess.

"Your meal wouldn't have been bad if you weren't fucking drunk." I muttered under my breath.

As I was finishing cleaning up the broken glass, the front door opened and a person walked into the house. I groaned when I heard him speak.

"What happened here?" They asked.

I turned to face them and glared, it was my step dad Isao. When my mom was at her darkest point, she met Isao at a bar and they immediately hit it off. When she introduced him to us, Kaoru and I didn't like him, thinking that mom was trying to make him replace dad. They soon got married and he's been in our lives ever since. Kaoru has somewhat warmed up to him but I still hated him.

He had pretty tan skin and slicked back black hair. His age was around the mid forties, but he looked pretty young for his age. He wore his uniform for his job, which my mom gave him, where he would sit in a cubicle all day and helped my mom at her work with anything she needed. The uniform was plain, just a white button up shirt with black pants.

His grey eyes looked at the mess, then at me. "Did you get angry or something?"

"No." I grumbled as I stood up. "Mom somehow got ahold of alcohol and got drunk then trashed the place." I huffed as I ran a hand through my hair. "I don't get where she got all this alcohol from though."

"Oh…" Isao said with an embarrassed chuckle as he slightly raised his hand. "That would be me…"

I slowly turned to him with eyes wide and dark with rage. "What?!"

He rubbed the back of his neck as he chuckled a bit more. A small blush forming on his face. "Yah, my pal had this barbecue yesterday and gave me the leftover beer. I didn't think anything would happen."

"You don't give fucking alcohol to a former alcoholic!" I snarled as I marched up to him. "Because they could fucking relapse!"

Isao gulped as my glare hardened. "Look I'm sorry, I wasn't thinking. I'll fix everything alright."

"You better." I hissed, moving my face closer to his. I then pushed the trash bag into his chest. "You can clean up after your wife because I'm done!"

I walked away from him, bumping shoulders with him as I made my way to the stairs.

Isao turned to me. "You know, that's not a nice way to talk to your father."

I stopped at the stairs, gripping the railing tightly. "You are not my father." I turned back at him and glared. "And you never will."

I then made my way upstairs and slammed the door to my room. Isao sighed and looked over at the mess.

"What am I going to do with him."

* * *

"So today wasn't the best day?"

"Nope." I said, popping the P at the end. "When do i ever have a good day?"

Kaoru chuckled as he snuggled his head into his blanket and adjusted his laptop so the camera was pointed on him. "I bet you wish I was there."

"Ha, you think. At least you make school more tolerable."

"Who knows, maybe you'll make friends with your little tutor."

I rolled my eyes and grabbed a chip from the bowel in my lap. "Yah, I highly doubt that."

"Come on Hikaru, Haruhi is actually a really great person. You can probably finally make a friend and talk to someone in your timezone instead of waiting for me to be up to Skype me."

"I'm fine without friends."

"Sure you are." I glared at him as he continued. "Just promise me that you'll be nice to her, she is my friend."

"I'll be nice to her." I mocked. "Don't worry."

Kaoru rolled his eyes and smiled. "For some reason, I don't believe you." We both chuckled, but Kaoru stopped when he noticed something. "Hey, what happened to your cheek? It's all red."

I placed a hand on my cheek. "Oh, it's because…" I stopped mid sentence, I couldn't tell Kaoru about what happened. If I told him about mom relapsing, he would worry and be on the first flight back home where he would also have to suffer as well. I didn't want him to worry, so I told him a little white lie.

"Oh, I got it from the fight at school, that's all." I smirked. "You should've seen his face."

Kaoru sighed and rubbed his temples, but still smiled. "What am I going to do with you? You're worse than a wild animal, at least they can be trained." I just shrugged and ate another chip as Kaoru put his hand down. He looked at the clock on the screen. "Aw shit, I have to go." He looked back at me. "Promise me that you won't be a dick to Haruhi like you usually are."

I huffed. "I promise I won't be a dick."

"Thank you." He smiled at me again. "I'll talk to you tomorrow."

"Yah." I said sadly. "Talk to you tomorrow."

He then signed off.

* * *

 **Hey guy I hope that you enjoyed the first chapter of my first ever rated M story. Sorry that it took a long time to publish, I wrote I lot more then I intended to. I might also change one of my T rated stories Asylum to rated M so if I do I'll have two rated M's XD. Anyway that's for reading this story, I'll tryto update it again soon, please F &R. Until next time.-HH1957**


	2. Chapter 2

I blew a bubble with my gum as a tapped my pen on my notebook and looked at my tutor Haruhi in disgust. She hasn't even been here for ten minutes and I already hated her. She was working out a few problems before she showed me how to do them.

The bubble popped and began tapping my pen even faster when I saw that it was starting to annoy her.

Her eye twitched and she gripped her pencil tightly.

"Can you stop that?" She asked, trying her best to not sound annoyed.

"I don't like you."

She glared up at me. "I know, you've told me that about two other times in the past ten minutes."

"Well I just wanted you to know."

"Well I know." She growled.

"Good."

We were quiet for a couple seconds, then she looked back at me.

"May I ask why?" I groaned as she continued speaking. "We just met a few minutes ago and you've already stated that you hate me multiple times."

I held my finger up matter of factly. "Correction, we've actually met multiple times."

"Class doesn't count smart ass."

I smirked at her, I could tell that she was trying to be tough, but it wasn't working. It just looked really funny.

"I'm not talking about fucking class." I stopped tapping my pen finally and pointed it at her. "You're in that dumb ass host club that all the ladies go to, to try and get laid that my brother's in."

"Our guests don't try and get laid!" She argued.

"Yah, sure." I rolled my eyes and played with the top of my pen on my paper. "That's not how they were to Kaoru and me when I was in the Host Club. You could tell by the way they were looking at us that they wanted us."

"And let me guess, you saw an opportunity to have sex with a bunch of pretty high school girls and took it."

I laughed at that, leaning back in my chair till I had the front legs off the floor. "Yah right. I have at least some dignity."

"Well, I would have thought so." She grumbled as she looked back at her work. "Also spit your gum out, this is a library, gums not aloud."

I rolled my eyes and spit my gum out in a tissue that was next to my notebook before throwing it to the closest trash can that was next to me.

"Anyway, I don't know if these girls believe it or not, but I'm a person who waits till he's in a long term relationship."

Haruhi stopped writing and looked back up at me. "Wait, you're a person who waits till you're in a long relationship."

"Yep." I said, popping the P at the end.

"But according to Kaoru you've never been in a relationship...So you're a virgin?"

"I never said that."

"But you just said…Ok then you're not a virgin?"

"I never said that either."

She blinked in confusion. "...Huh?"

"I never said that I was a virgin, but I never said I wasn't." I played with my pen between my fingers. "I like to stay a mystery, if you get what I mean."

Haruhi just continued to stare at me confused, then began rubbing her temples when she felt a headache coming on. "No, no I don't know what you mean."

I just smirked as I watched her getting annoyed. I might have to deal with this stupid tutoring, but it doesn't mean I can't have a little fun.

"You said that I must enjoy having all these girls who would drop their clothes at my feet if all I do is look at them. But you," I put my chair back on all fours and leaned my elbows on the table as I crossed my arms, she rolled her eyes to look at me, "you're the only woman who works in a men's brothel, where sadly my brother works too." She looked up at me and my smirk widened even more when I saw her grimace. "I might not be the nicest person to be around, but at least I'm not a whore who is trying to fuck every guy in that stupid club, unlike someone else here."

Haruhi immediately opened her mouth to protest, but her eyes widened as if she realized something and closed her mouth.

"I see what you're doing." She said, making my smirk fall and look at her confused. "You're saying all these things to get a reaction from me, hoping that I get so fed up with you and quit. Well I'll tell you one thing, it won't work on me Hitachiin."

I looked at her in shock, shocked by the way she was talking to me. Slowly my expression turned into a glare as my shock turned into anger. Nobody's ever talked to me like that, and I didn't like it.

Haruhi looked at the clock and huffed as she slammed her book closed. "You're lucky that I have to leave early today because I have errands to run." She put her supplies away and stood up glaring down at me. "But tomorrow, I promise it won't be this easy."

She then left the library without another word. I growled and kicked the table, making my notebook and pens fall off and hit the ground.

"That fucking bitch! How dare she talk down to me like that." I looked towards the door she walked out from and glared at it. "I'm going to show her who she's messing with and I'm going to make her life here a living hell!"

* * *

I pulled up to my house and parked on the curb. I turned off the ignition and pulled out the keys, but I remained in my car. I looked over towards my house and an uneasy feeling began to settle in my stomach. I was afraid of seeing my mom, I didn't want to see her in a drunken rage again. I looked up and saw that her curtains were closed, so she must be asleep. I let out a breath that I didn't realize that I was holding in and got out of my car. I walked up to the front door and unlocked it, slowly opening it as I looked around the dark room, which to my relief looked untouched.

"Everything looks normal, that's a good sign."

I entered my house and quietly shut the door behind me so I wouldn't disturb mom. I placed my bag on the couch and shrugged my jacket off, but as about to toss it on the couch, I heard the creaking of the staircase as someone was coming down the stairs slowly. My eyes widened and I froze in fear, praying to God that Isao was home early from work.

"Hikaru?" Shit, it was mom's voice. "Or are you Kaoru?"

My eyebrow twitched. I knew mom could tell us apart and she did this just to poke fun at us, but in her drunken state, I actually didn't know if she knew if it was me.

I took a deep breath and slowly turned to her with a small smile on my face. She was standing on a step in the middle of the staircase, still wearing her clothes from yesterday.

"I'm Hikaru, mom." I said. "Kaoru's in New York remember."

"Oh…" She said as she made the rest of her way down the stairs. "What a shame. He was always my favorite."

My smiled immediately fell and was replaced with a hurt expression as I watched her make her way to the kitchen.

"You don't mean that mom, do you?"

She looked up at me from a box of cereal she was opening. "Mean what?"

"That Kaoru's your favorite, you're joking right?"

"No, I wasn't." She said bluntly, looking back at her cereal. "He's always been the good child, unlike you who always gets in trouble." She pointed the spoon that was in her hand at me. "You know, you're a lot like your father. I wouldn't be surprise if you decided to get married, have a family then all of a sudden disappear on them."

I opened my mouth to yell at her, but immediately closed it, clenching my jaw, and hands into fists as they trembled in anger. I knew I shouldn't take any of this personally because it was another one of her drunken rants by the way her words were slurred, but I knew that there must be some truth behind some of it…

Mom noticed the way I was acting and glared at me. "What, you got something to say?"

"No." I said through clenched teeth, trying my best not to sound angry.

"Good." She grabbed her bowl cereal and walked passed me towards the stairs. "Oh, and don't get too cozy, we're having dinner with the new neighbors in about an hour. Isao will be here soon."

I rolled my eyes and sat down on the couch. I rubbed my temples and sighed. This was going to be a long evening.

* * *

About forty-five minutes later Isao arrived home, while we waited for mom to finish up getting ready he sat across from me, trying to start a conversation with me to break the awkward silence. Which I just responded to him with a glare and he grew silent. Finally, after another ten minutes of awkward silence, I heard mom's door open and her coming down the stairs.

I looked towards her and was amazed at how drastically her appearance changed. Her hair was no longer disheveled and was styled neatly and she had a face full of makeup. She grabbed her hand bag and looked towards us.

"Come on." She said curtly. "Let's go."

I sighed and got up, she may not look like it, but she was still drunk. I grabbed my jacket and put on as we made our way out of the house and made our way across the street to the new neighbors' house. The house looked a lot like ours, but had a new coat of paint around the outside of the house from the previous owner.

When we got to their front door mom knocked. While we were waiting for them to answer, mom looked over at me and glared when she noticed that I was still wearing the outfit I wore to school.

"You idiot." She hissed as she hit my arm. "Why don't you change into something formal."

I rubbed my arm and glared at her. "Because you didn't tell me too, and also, we're just visiting neighbors, there's no point to dress up."

She growled and faced the door. "It should've been fucking obvious. God you're so stupid."

I looked over at her sadly and opened my mouth to say something, but the sound of the door unlocking kept me quiet. Soon the door opened, revealing a man. He had short brown hair the was long at the top that ends at his ears. He had glasses frames that covered his blue eyes that looked like they were from eighties. He wore a plaid shirt that was tucked into his jeans. He had a scowl on his, but it fell when he saw us and was replaced with a smile.

"Great you guys finally made it. We were worried that you weren't going to show up."

Mom put a hand to her mouth a giggled. "Don't be ridiculous, we wouldn't miss this for the world Mr…"

"Yoshido," he said as he shook Isao's hand, "but you can call me Akito." He released Isao's hand and took a step to the side to make room for us to go through.

"Come in."

We did as he said and entered his house. He directed us to the dining room where a teenage girl with blonde hair was sitting with one of her legs propped up on the chair.

"That's my daughter Mari and my wife Ayumi is in the kitchen finishing dinner."

By hearing her name, Mari looked over at us and her light blue eyes immediately landed on me. We stared at each other for a couple seconds, then a mischievous smirk appeared on her face. I cocked an eyebrow at her expression, then looked away from her when I heard footsteps coming from the kitchen.

"Sorry that I don't have dinner ready yet." A woman who I assumed was Ayumi apologized as she walked from the kitchen into the dining room with a dish with some type of meat that I didn't recognize on it. "I didn't know you all would be here so early."

She placed the food on the table then stood up straight and wiped her hands off on her apron. She had her black hair in a tight bun which made her grey eyes stand out.

"It's quite alright." Mom said happily. "We didn't want to make a bad first impression by being late."

"Well why don't you guys get comfortable while we finish setting up." Akito said. "Come on Mari."

Mari got up and began following her father. As she walked behind me I felt something grope my ass. I jumped and my eyes widened, I turned and saw Mari smirking at me as she walked towards the kitchen. I glared at her which just made her smirk widen as she walked into the kitchen.

I grumbled as I put my hands in my pockets. "Yep, this is definitely going to be a long night."

* * *

 **Hey guys, I'm really, really sorry for the long wait. I've been really busy because of senior year and in October I had to preform Hamlet so that took a lot of time. I will try to update my stories a lot quicker now, but I can't promise it will be that quick, I'm sorry. But I am on break so I hopefully can update some of my other stories, crossing my finger, please F &R. Until next time.-HH1957**


	3. Chapter 3

We sat the table as they finished setting up the table and brought out the food. Most of it looked good I'll say that, but others did not. There were rolls, asparagus, rice, and some dishes I didn't even recognize, but what looked absolutely revolting was the meat. The smell that came from it was indescribable horrid that I had to cover my nose, but the glare my mom was giving me indicated that she wanted me to uncover my nose. I quietly groaned and uncovered my nose, not wanting to get even more on my mom's bad side tonight.

The Yoshido family finished setting the table and took their seats at the table. I heard the chair next to me move, I looked over to it and saw Mari taking a seat next to me. I cocked an eyebrow at her, why was she sitting next to me when there was an open chair next to her parents? I was hardly complaining, she was a cute girl, but it's a bit weird to me because we didn't know each other.

She must've noticed my expression because she looked over at me, a faint smirk on her lips.

"I hope you don't mind, I just prefer this seat. It has," her smirk widened, "a better view."

I gave a brief chuckle, understanding what she was getting at. "Yah, the view is pretty nice."

I winked at her, which she responded to with a giggle. I could have a little fun with her, maybe let her fall for me like I did with girls at school then if they're boring I'll ditch them.

Someone cleared their throat, grabbing the attention of Mari and me.

"Well if you two are done flirting with each other, I think it's time to start eating." Akito teased.

I just rolled my eyes and turned away from Mari. I looked at all the food, seeing which ones looked actually good, which wasn't a lot. I took a roll and some mac and cheese and that was about it, everything else looked either a bit over cooked or a bit odd.

"Hikaru, you're not going to have any meat?" Ayumi asked.

I looked up at her, then back at the meat. "It's just that, I'm a vegetarian. I don't eat meat."

"Oh, I'm sorry." she apologized. "I didn't even think about that."

"He's just joking." Mom smiled as she grabbed the tray of meat. "He's not a vegetarian."

"Oh?"

"I started today, right after we dissected frogs in science."

"I didn't know someone who cares so much about animals also wears a leather jacket." Mari said as she played with her food.

I glared over at her, she was starting to become less cute now. Mom shoved the tray towards me, a dark scowl on her face.

"Take the meat Hikaru." She hissed.

I sighed and took the tray from her, picking up the tongs and putting two slices on my plate. I handed the meat off to Isao, who placed it back with the other food. I picked up my fork and started poking the meat, making a disgusted face when I saw red juice leak out of it, was that blood?

I looked around the room, seeing if they had any type of animal that I could give the food to, but to my fucking luck they didn't have anything. I looked back at the food, maybe it wouldn't taste as bad as it looked...or smelled. I took my knife and cut into the meat and then took a bite of it. Instantly a disturbingly sweet, but pork like flavor hit my taste buds. I winced in disgust.

"Fuck," I whispered as I covered my mouth with my napkin, "it's a lot worse than I thought."

I turned away from the table so no one could see me spit the meat into the napkin. I turned back to the table and grabbed the roll, they couldn't mess up a roll, right...Well I was wrong. I ripped a piece of the roll and put it in my mouth and before I before I could even start to chew I had to spit it out as well because it was disgusting. The only food I had left on my plate was the mac and cheese, and I didn't even want to try it to see if it tasted good. I picked up my water and drank some water to try and was out the horrid taste in my mouth. At least they could prepare water correctly.

"So Hikaru, you go to Ouran Academy?" Ayumi asked.

I brought down my drink from my lips, trying my headset not to make a disgusted face from the taste that still lingered in my mouth as I responded. "Yah, I've been going since I was in preschool."

"Do you like it there?" Akito asked, taking a bite of the meat. How the fuck could he eat that shit?

"Yah I guess. It has some strict rules that are pretty stupid in my opinion, but other than that I think it's a good school."

"Well I'm glad to hear that." Ayumi smiled. "We're thinking about applying Mari there. It's great she'll already have a friend there."

Before I could roll my eyes I suddenly felt a hand on my thigh. I looked down then followed the arm that led to Mari, a mischievous smirk on her face.

"Yah, I'm really glad I'll have a friend." She purred, winking at me.

I glared at her and took her hand off of me, but she immediately put her hand back on my thigh, higher than before. She was definitely not cute anymore!

"Don't touch me!" I hissed at her through clenched teeth. Trying to take her hand off of me again as he tried to go even higher.

She just responded with a smirk, not listening to me. I kept trying to smack her hand away as Ayumi spoke up again.

"Who knows, maybe you two will hit it off and started dating." She giggled.

"Like hell I would." I growled, finally grabbing Mari's hand.

Mom glared at me, fury in her eyes. I gulped, letting go of Mari's hand as I felt my palms getting sweaty. Fuck, I knew I shouldn't have said something, but Mari was irritating me so much that it slipped out. The room was filled with an awkward silence. I really fucked up, I fucked up horribly, mom wanted to make a good impression for the new neighbors and I fucked it up. She's going to be extremely angry when we get home. Then all of a sudden Akito and Ayumi began laughing, breaking the silence. We all looked over at them, shocked to see them laughing. Ayumi covered her mouth with her hand. "Teens will be teens, right? Always fighting against what adults say."

Akito wiped a tear from under his glasses. "Don't worry, we were only joking, but I could tell by you responding back sarcastically that you got that."

I sweat dropped, they thought I was being sarcastic? Well I guess that's a good thing, now hopefully mom won't be mad at me. As mom continued watching our new neighbors laughing, she joined in.

"My son is such a jokester, isn't he?" She giggled.

I sighed in relief, good she's not mad anymore. I won't have to worry about her shouting at me when we get home. I looked over at Mari and saw that she was no longer paying attention to me and was eating her food. I still couldn't get how she could eat that.

Akito wiped his mouth and moved and moved his chair back. "Well I'm going get some champagne, would anyone else like some?"

Mom raised her hand and smiled. "I would lov-"

"No!"

Everyone looked at me, a bit shocked at my outburst. Then almost immediately my mom's expression turned from shock to irritated.

I cleared my throat as a blush appeared on my face. "It's just that I don't think it's a good idea for you to drink mom, especially after your recent doctor appointment." I lied, trying to get Akito to not serve my mom.

"Hikaru," mom hissed through gritted teeth, "I think you're mistaken. My doctor didn't say anything about me drinking. Stop making unnecessary false statement." She smiled back over at Akito. "I would love to have a drink."

I looked over at Akito with a worried expression and when our eyes met I shook my head. He seemed to catch on to what I was saying and sat back down in his chair. He cleared his throat awkwardly as he moved his chair back to the table. "I just remembered, we finished the last of the champagne last night."

Mom's smile immediately fell, looking back over to me with a dark, rage filled glare. I gulped, feeling myself began to sweat as I grew petrified from her glare.

"Honey didn't we just buy champagne last ni-"

Akito looked over at Ayumi and shook his head, making her grow quiet. Mari looked over at me with a smirk, but it fell when she noticed the way I was acting.

"Hey," she whispered to me, "are you alright? You're extremely pale."

I shot up from my chair. "Where's your restroom?"

Akito was first surprised by my sudden action, then pointed down the hall. "Down the hall last door on the left."

I nodded him a thank you then followed his directions to the bathroom. When I got inside I immediately closed the door and locked it. I put my back against the door and began panting, feeling the anxiety of tonight starting to come out. I put a trembling hand over my mouth, feeling as though I was about to get sick at any moment, but I was lucky enough to keep it down.

I walked over to the sink and turned on the water, splashing water in my face to calm me. After I splashed my face a couple times I gripped the marble surface of the sink, listening to the running water, letting it calm me down. I didn't want to go back out there, I was too afraid of mom. I just knew when we got home, she's going to be furious. I just wanted to go home so I could get it over with. I turned off the water and used the hand towel to dry the water off my face. As I was about to head to the door to leave, I heard a click and saw the door opening as I was looking in the mirror. I turned to the door and saw Mari walking in, immediately our eyes locked.

I looked at her confused. "I thought I locked the door. How did you get in here?"

She smirked, ignoring my question as she slowly shut the door and strutted over to me. She then grabbed my jacket and pulled me closer to her, so she was in my chest. She looked up at my face.

"I've been with many guys before, but never had one as gorgeous and sexy as you." She purred, tracing small circles on my chest, sending an uncomfortable chill down my spine.

I pushed her away from me with a little too much force that made her stumble back. I gave her a glare as I fixed my jacket.

"Look, you're a cute girl I'll admit that, but after all the things you were trying to pull during dinner tonight, I'm really not interested."

"We don't have to date." She began twirling her blonde hair with her fingers. "We could just fuck and I'll be fine with that."

"No way in fucking hell." I growled, trying to intimidate her to move out of my way, but she only smirked.

"Isn't it every man's dream to be able to fuck a beautiful girl?" She walked back up to me, making me lean back on the sink to try and get as far away from her as I could. "I can help you make that dream come true."

She ran her hands from my stomach up to my chest, then wrapped her arms around my neck, trying her best to sit on my lap. I growled as I tried unwrapping her arms from around me and tried to push her off of me, but as I peeled her arms from around my neck she grabbed my jacket and forced my head down, engulfing my lips with hers.

I was too in shock to react. I could feel her tongue gliding down my bottom row of teeth, trying to find access. When I didn't open my mouth for her, one of her hands traveling from my jacket down to my pants. I gasped as she clutched my groin and she took the advantage to slide her tongue into my mouth. I grunted from her surprise, which seemed to turn her on even more.

I hated this. I really hated this. I've kissed girls before, but this was disgusting. By the way her tongue was moving, it felt like she was a thirsty dog lapping for water. Well she was thirsty for something.

When I finally came back to my senses and realized what was happening I tried to move my hands to her shoulders to push her off, but as I was about to move she grabbed one of my hands and placed it on her breasts, making my eyes go wide. I needed to stop this before she takes it even further.

I used my free hand and used it to push her off of me. She stumbled back a bit, hitting her back against the wall. I turned to the sink and turned it on, using my hands to cup water and I began rinsing my mouth, trying to get the taste of her out of my mouth.

"Why the fuck did you push me? We were just getting started."

I looked over my shoulder and glared at her. "Just getting started?! I didn't even want to fuck you in the first place!" I spit into the sink and shuttered. "God, it felt like you were trying to suck out my soul. Fuck, that was disgusting!"

She began twirling her hair again flirtatiously. "Come on don't deny it." She purred. "I could tell you enjoyed it."

I faced her again with a furious look, my fists clenched and trembling at my side. "Getting a bottle smashed over my head was more enjoyable than that." I wiped my mouth. "God, I don't even know where your mouth has been. I'm probably going to get a fucking disease!"

She didn't seem bothered by what I said, she actually seemed happy by it. "I don't get why you're complaining, that was one of the best kisses I ever had. I wonder what else you're really good at." She winked.

My face grew red from embarrassment and anger, this girl was disgusting, she is definitely not cute anymore. She's the most disgusting girls I've ever seen. Before Mari could do anything else to me I walked over to the door.

"Fuck off!"

I exited the bathroom and stormed back to the dining room, where mom and Isao were getting along with Mari's parents. Being in the same room with mom again made me feel anxious, but I would rather be here then with Mari.

Akito noticed that I was back and smiled. "Hikaru great you're back. Mari went to go see if you were ok, but I guess that was just her excuse to leave the table." He then noticed how pale I was. "Are you alright?"

I cleared my throat before answering him. "I'm really sorry but I suddenly feel very sick. I was going to ask my mom if I could walk home."

Mom glared at me and opened her mouth to say something, but Ayumi spoke up before she could.

"Oh, if you're not feeling good darling you should go home. We won't be offended by it."

"Thank you."

"It's quite alright. I hope you feel better."

I gave her a nod and then made my way out of the house, catching mom's glare on as I left.

* * *

I warmed up some leftover lasagna from a couple days ago and sat down on the couch. I took off my jacket and placed it over the couch before grabbing the remote from the coffee table and turned on the TV, flipping through channels until Dance Moms showed up. I know it's a little weird for a guy with a reputation like mine to like reality TV, but ever since Mom showed us this show when were ten Kaoru and I got hooked. With all the drama and fighting, it was so entertaining to watch. I put the remote next to me on the couch and got cozy as I ate my food, watching the show.

I smirked as one of the moms began arguing with Abby. "Jill, you shouldn't fight with her, she's going to pull your daughters solo because of your fucking bitching."

As I finished up my lasagna and the show was wrapping up, I heard the door beginning to unlock. My body went cold as I heard the door open and rushed footsteps coming inside the house. A hand then suddenly grabbed the remote that was beside me and turned off the TV. When I looked up to see who it was, a chill went down my spine when I came face to face with mom's dark scowl.

I gulped seeing the rage in her eyes, I knew she was going to be angry because of me leaving, but I didn't think she would be this furious. I haven't seen her this mad since...since that night…

"Isao," mom said through her gritted teeth, not taking her eyes off of me, "would you mind going upstairs? I would like to have a word with Hikaru."

Isao just nodded and went upstairs without saying a word. I heard the door close upstairs, expecting for mom to shout, hit, or throw something at me...or even all three, but we just continued to stare at each other as if we were in some intense staring contest...and I was losing.

"Get up!" She hissed. I quickly stood up, not wanting to anger her further. "Now stand in front of me." My feet felt heavy as lead as I made my way around the couch and stood in front of mom, facing down so she wouldn't see the fear in my eyes. "Now look up at me!"

I gulped and clenched my jaw as I slowly looked up at her with fearful eyes. I wouldn't be exaggerating when I say I could literally see a rage filled fire in her eyes. She then raised her hand and slapped me, leaving a red stinging mark on my right cheek.

"How dare you embarrass me you fucking brat!" I faced towards her again, my bangs covering my eyes. "Now our new neighbors probably think I'm some drunk with a misbehaving spoiled kid! Do you have anything to say for yourself?!"

"It's not my fault…" I mumbled.

"What was that?!"

I swallowed the lump in the throat and looked up at her with a glare, trying my best not to show that I was afraid of her. "It's not my fault." Her glare darkened, but I tried to not let that scare me even more. "I-I didn't embarrass us at dinner. I ev-even behaved better than usual so you wouldn't look bad. The only thing I did was for them not to serve you alcohol because you're a fucking drunk-"

I was then cut off when mom punched me, making me fall back on the ground as it caught me by surprise. I held my hand over my left eye and he said in pain, feeling it start to swell up already.

"Fuck!" I hissed as I brought my other hand up to my eye.

Mom then walked away into another. I felt tears began to fill up in my eyes as the pain intensified. This wasn't the first time she's punched me, I don't know why it caught me off guard. I knew if I talked back to her she would get angry.

Suddenly I heard running water coming from the bathroom. My eye widened as I looked towards the bathroom...No.

I quickly got up and ran towards the front door, trying to get away from here before mom could finish, but as I grabbed the door knob and was about to open it mom grabbed my arm, dragging me towards the bathroom.

"Mom I'm sorry!" I cried, trying to get out of her grip. I might've been physically stronger than her, but I was so scared of her that when she was like this that my strength disappears. "I didn't mean what I said, I'm sorry!"

She ignored my pleads as she led me towards the bathroom. I saw the bathtub running and my body grew cold. I sat down on the floor and began resisting her pull so she couldn't move me, but she just grabbed my arm with her other hand and tugged me to the tub. She made me kneel down in front of the tub as she turned off the water when it reached halfway. I just stayed there trembling, knowing what was about to come. I didn't even try to run, because that would only make my punishment even worse.

I felt mom grab a fistful of my hair and she pulled me back, causing me to gasp. She leaned down till she was next to my ear.

"Let's wash away that nasty attitude you have." She hissed.

I quickly took a deep breath of air before mom forced my head down in the water. For the first thirty seconds I was fine, but as it reached closer to the minute mark I began losing my breath. I gasped, only getting a mouthful of water. I tried using my arms on the edge of the bathtub to push me back up, but my mom kept my head down.

My lungs began burning as more time passed, my body kept gasping to get air out of instinct, but it only made me lose more air in the process. I tapped the bathtub multiple times with my hand, begging her to let me up, but she only ignored it.

Finally, after what felt like an eternity, mom pulled my head out of the water and let go of my hair. I immediately began coughing and gasping for air. I moved my bangs out of my face as I leaned over the tub and tried to regain my breath.

"Don't ever fucking embarrass me again or something like this will happen again, but worse. Do you fucking understand?!" I nodded, too exhausted to give a verbal response. "Good, now clean up this fucking mess."

She then left the bathroom, slamming the door on her way out. I just remained where I was, surrounded by water. My white uniform shirt was drenched from my shoulders down to my stomach, sticking to me as if it was almost a part of me.

I soon began to feel something warm trail down my face. I put my hand up to it and felt water coming from my eyes, I was crying. I haven't cried like this in a long time that it felt so unnatural to do, but I didn't let it stop. I turned around and leaned my back on the tub, bringing my knees to my chest and just cried silently, not wanting mom to hear. I knew my mom was still in pain from my dad leaving a couple years ago.

My dad...I hated him, I hated him for leaving, I hated him for telling me he loved me before he left, I hated him for breaking his promise of him coming home that night, I hated him because this was all his fault!

...But, I also missed him, I missed the talks we had, I missed taking trips with him, hell I even missed his corny dad jokes he always made.

Why was my life so fucked up…?

* * *

I decided not to talk to Kaoru over video chat so he wouldn't see my wounds, so we just texted until I fell asleep. The next morning, I grabbed some toast and quickly slipped out of the house before mom could wake up.

I readjusted my aviators as I walked down the hallway of the school, heading to my homeroom class. As usual people stared at me as I walked by, I could hear them talking about why I was wearing sunglasses, but I just ignored them like always. I walked into the classroom and why was I not surprised to see that my little tutor was already here. I groaned and walked over to my desk next to hers, I really wanted to sit alone for a while before class started, but I guess ignoring her will do just as fine.

I sat down in my chair and pulled my head down on the desk. I could feel Haruhi's eyes on me, but I didn't look back at her. I really didn't want to fight with her right now, I was still too exhausted from yesterday. After a few minutes slowly passed by the bell finally rung. Students flooded into the classroom and to my annoyance began chatting to each other, but when the teacher arrived everyone quieted down.

"Good morning class." Mr. Hirota greeted as he walked over to his desk.

"Good morning." The class responded tiredly.

"Alright, please take out the worksheet I assigned you a couple days ago and pass them up."

My eyes widened, fuck I forgot about that worksheet. I was too distracted by mom's drunken rages that I totally forgot about it. I usually didn't do my homework, but because of the chairman's threat to expel me I was going to try and do my work so he wouldn't call my mom. I looked over at Haruhi and saw her taking out her worksheet. I really didn't want to ask her for help, but she's the only one in the class that I kinda knew.

"Psst," I whispered, trying to get her attention, "psst!"

She sighed and glared over at me. "What?"

"Can I see your work...please?" I asked through clenched teeth.

"No." She said without a second thought.

"Come on please, I was held up with something and forgot to do it."

"Yah sure, held up with something. Which is what, smoking, getting into fights?"

"No, it's...a family issue."

She rolled her eyes. "Fine I'll give you the first answer."

"Thank you."

I took out my paper and a pencil and waited for her to give me the answer.

"Are you ready?" I nodded. "Alright, so the answer is Y.O.U.A.R.E.A.D.I.C.K."

I glared at her. "Haha, very funny. Can you give me the real answer now?"

She smirked. "No, I don't think I will."

"Come on, you're my fucking tutor."

"Yah and I'm supposed to help you learn the material, and by you copying my work you aren't learning anything."

She then turned away from me and passed her paper up to Mr. Hirota.

"Fucking bitch." I grumbled under and slumped back in my chair.

Mr. Hirota began counting the papers that were passed up, then looked at the class. "Ok, I'm only missing one worksheet, and I wonder whose it is." His gaze traveled over to me. "Where's your worksheet Mr. Hitachiin?"

I began drumming my fingers on my desk out of agitation and nervousness. "I didn't do it."

"And why am I not surprised, what is the excuse today?"

"Family issues."

"What type of "family" issues?"

"Personal family issues…"

Mr. Hirota rubbed his temples and huffed. "I don't know why I keep trying with you. I guess it's just the good teacher in me who's hoping you'll turn yourself around, but my patience is starting to grow thin with you in two of my classes." He put his hand down and glared back at me. "Also take your sunglasses off, we're inside."

I played with my frames with my fingers. "I would prefer to keep them on thank you very much."

"Would you like Mr. Suoh to see your glasses? I'm pretty sure he'll like them."

I huffed. "No…"

"Then take them off."

I lifted up my hand back to my frames and slowly took off my aviators, revealing my badly bruised left eye. People in the classroom gasped at it, probably at how bad it was. I could see out of it now because the swelling died down for the most part, but my eye was horribly black and blue all over, it almost looked like it was make up because of how dark it was. I still couldn't believe my mom was able to do something like this, who knew she could punch so hard.

It wasn't really a shock that I would come to school bruised and hurt from a fight, but the bruises were always a light blue color, barely noticeable, nothing like this.

Mr. Hirota stared at my eyes for a bit, his brows then forwarding. "And let me guess, you were too busy fighting to get your homework done, am I right?"

I fidgeted with my aviators in my hand nervously, avoiding eye contact with him. "No...not really. I did get hurt, but like I said...it's family issues."

Mr. Hirota's expression soften as he began piecing together what I said, he then looked back at me and noticed the way I was acting, fidgeting and avoiding eye contact with him. Not acting like my usual, arrogant self, challenging everything he says. A light bulb lit up in his head.

He cleared his throat. "You know what? I'll excuse this one assignment for you Hikaru, don't worry about it."

I looked over at him in shock, he's never done this to anyone before unless something bad happened.

"Thank you." I said, which he responded with a nod.

Mr. Hirota went on with the lesson and I tried my best to pay attention, even taking notes, but about halfway through taking notes I grew bored. I began playing with my pencil with fingers and doodled without even realizing it at first.

After the lecture was finally over Mr. Hirota began passing out the homework. He stopped in front of my desk and I looked up at him, expecting the usual scowl he gave me for not paying attention, but I was surprised to see him looking at me with a bleak expression. He handed me the homework then leaned down next to my ear.

"I know we don't always get along, but you know you can always talk to me? No matter what it is." He whispered.

I began to feel tears burn in the back of my eyes. I really did want to tell someone about my mom so she could no longer hurt us, but I was also afraid of losing mom because I knew that drunkin person wasn't really her.

I just gave him a nod. "Yes I know, thank you…"

He nodded as well and continued passing out the homework. I felt eyes on me and turned to see Haruhi staring at me. I glared at her, but she didn't glare back like she usually did. She just sat there, with the same expression Mr. Hirota had on her face. My glare fell and I matched her expression for a bit, before packing up my bag as the bell rang and left the classroom.

Today was going to be a long day, I could feel it.


	4. Chapter 4

The last bell of the school day rang, ending the excruciatingly long day, well almost. I still had an hour of tutoring today, then I could go home...home, a place where you're supposed to feel safe at is where I'm the most terrified to go. Probably after tutoring I'll just hang around the school for a bit longer.

"Hikaru?"

I snapped out of my thought and looked up seeing that all the other students have left. How long have I've been sitting here? The only other person here was Mr. Hirota who was sitting at his desk organizing some papers.

"Are you alright?"

"I'm fine." I said as I began packing up my belongings into my bag. "I was just lost in thought."

After I put my last notebook in my bag, I headed towards the door.

"Hikaru, wait." Mr. Hitora called out, making me stop a couple feet away from the door. "Come over here for a second." I sighed and turned on my heels away from the door before making my way over to his desk. "Please take a seat."

I pulled out a chair from another student's desk and pulled it up to his desk. I slumped down in it, draping my arm over the top rail of the chair. I stared at him with a bored expression, waiting for him to speak, but he just sat there staring back at me, which was starting to get uncomfortable. I cocked an eyebrow at him.

"What?" I asked, a bit more curtly then I meant it to be.

He placed the stack of papers to the side, not taking his eyes off me. "I know that there is something going on in your personal life. You don't have to tell me, but if you don't I won't be able to help you through whatever you're going through."

I scoffed, almost laughing at what he said. I ran a hand through my disheveled dark hair before answering. "And how could you be able to help me if I am in a dangerous situation? You're just a teacher," I huffed, looking away from him as I played with the collar of my jacket, "it's not like you can give them a detention for hurting me. You'd be useless in a situation like that."

"I may be a teacher," he said, not offended by my last statement, "but I can do more then give out detentions you know?"

I looked away up from my jacket, back at him. He put his elbows on his desk to get comfortable as if he was about to tell a really long story. I tried my best to suppress a growl as he began speaking.

"When I first began working here about ten years ago, there was this girl in my class. Her name was Kyoko Fujiwara and from what I noticed from only being there for a couple months was that she was a popular girl. Blonde hair, green eyes, all the boys crazy about her, but even though she had all these boys chasing after her and all her friends she still kept her grades up." His expression began to turn sullen. "But one day, I noticed that she was acting different. She wasn't her usual happy, giddy self. She turned quiet and reserved. Her hair was messy, she didn't wear makeup, and she always covered up her arms even on hot days. For the next couple of months I just watched her deteriorate, not knowing what to do. I even told the counselor that I was worried about her, but they just said that unless she told us about what happened we couldn't do anything, so I just continued watching her break down day by day until…"

I could see the tears welled up in his eyes, I've never seen him this vulnerable before. It made my chest start to hurt seeing him like this.

"Until what?" I asked.

"Until it was finally too much, and she died. Her body just couldn't take it anymore." He responded, letting a tear fall. "I found out a couple days later that she was being abused by her heroin addicted father. He touched her, hit her, called her worthless," he shook his head in disgust, "made me fucking sick to my stomach. He killed her by hitting her in the head multiple times with a vase," he began to grow angry, "and that fucker tried to cover it up by injecting some heroin in her system, making it looked like she overdosed." He sighed, calming down as he rubbed his temples. "I just wished she would have talked to me like I offered. I could tell she wanted to, but she was too afraid. If she did talk to me, I could've helped her by having the school call the police and take her somewhere safe while they arrested her father." He looked back at me, a slight glare on his face. "I might be a teacher, but I'm not useless in situations like this. All you need to do is tell me and I can help you. I don't want to lose another student like how we lost Kyoko."

I just stared at him, in shock by the story, and scared at how similar it was almost to mine. I crossed my arms and faced away from him again.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to offend you. I just didn't know you could do anything." I said, almost whispering the last part.

"So, now that you know that I can help, would you like to tell me what's going on?" Mr. Hitora asked.

I played with my glasses that were hanging off my shirt, debating with myself if I should tell him or not. If I told him, mom wouldn't be able to hurt me anymore and I wouldn't have to worry about what happened to Kyoko to happen to me, but also if I did tell him mom would more than likely get arrested and I didn't want that to happen. I know that deep down she was still the mother that loved me, she was just being controlled by the devil in the form of liquid.

"Not...Not right now," I finally answered, making Mr. Hitora's expression fall, "but if it gets any worse I'll tell you."

He sighed, but nodded. "Alright, I guess I can agree with that, but promise me that if it gets too bad that you'll call the police immediately, don't even hesitate, alright?"

I nodded. "I promise." I looked over at the clock that was hanging on the wall. "I have to get to tutoring or Yuzuru is going to be on my ass for being late."

"Don't worry, I'll tell him I kept you after for a bit." He gave me a small smile. "Thanks for listening to me Hikaru. I know that we don't always get along, but I hope that this could help you a bit."

I nodded as I grabbed my bag and stood up, heading towards the door as I put my aviators to hide my black eye.

* * *

It was fifty minutes into our tutoring session; we only had five minutes left because I had that talk with Mr. Hitora, so we had to cut the session down by five minutes.

I was finishing up some math problems silently as Haruhi was working on another assignment while she waited for me to finish. I would occasionally glance up at her from the top of my aviators then back down before she could notice. The session today was awkwardly quiet on both parts. I was too exhausted to pick a fight with her and I think she could feel something was up.

I finished the last problem then flipped my notebook and pushed it towards her. "Done."

She looked up from her homework and looked at the problems. She took the notebook into her hands and looked at the problems, biting the end of her pencil as her eyes went through problem to problem. I tapped my foot to a song in my head as I waited for her to finish it up.

She took the pencil out of her mouth and looked up at me. "You got them all correct except one." She placed the notebook down and faced it towards me before sliding it back to me. She pointed to the problem with her pencil. "You didn't switch the x and y." I cocked an eyebrow at the problem, then rolled my eyes over to her. "What do you mean?"

She sighed tiredly and moved her chair close to me so we were next to each other. I glared at her sudden movement to be closer to me.

"I don't want to be this close to you either, but this is the only way to show you how to do the problem." She said which I just rolled my eyes in response. She pointed back at the problem. "You have to switch the x and y so you can find the inverse function," she wrote out the problem on the side, going through step by step showing me what I did wrong, "and that's the correct answer." She looked over at me. "Does it make sense now?"

I scanned over the problem, feeling it actually click in my brain. "Yeah, it actually does. It makes a lot of sense."

"Well I'm glad it does, that means I'm doing my job." She looked over at the clock and got up. "It looks like our session is over for today, finally." She said, whispering the last part. She began packing up her supplies and was about to zip up her bag when she noticed that I haven't moved out of my seat and was just quietly doodling in my notebook. "Hey, we're done for the day. You can go now you know?"

I looked up at her, then back at my notebook. "I know it's just...I don't want to go home yet."

Haruhi noticed the strange way I was acting, just scribbling lines and random shapes on a blank sheet of paper in my notebook. Yesterday I couldn't wait to go home and was bugging her because of that. She looked at the bruising around my eye that was exposed by my aviators sliding down my nose as I had my head slightly tilted down. She pushed up her own glasses and sighed out of frustration, blowing her bangs out of her face.

"If you don't want to go home, would you like to go to the club room with me?" She asked, making me stop doodling and look back up at her. "I have to stay until 5:30."

I cocked an eyebrow at her. "Club, like in the host club?"

"Yeah, that's the one."

I let out a short laugh before going back to my doodling. "Yeah right, like I would ever be caught back in that fucking hell hole."

She just rolled her and zipped up her bag before picking it up. "Whatever, but you can't say I never tried to be nice to you." She turned and began walking towards the door, giving me a small meaningless wave without looking at me. "Have fun driving home."

The smirk on my face immediately fell as her words hit my ears. The memories of what happened yesterday began playing in my mind in vivid detail that I could feel every ounce of pain she inflicted on me. My palms began to feel sweaty at just the thought of going home right now, knowing that mom was there, most likely in her drunken state. I bit my lip and looked over at Haruhi, contemplating if I should take her up on her offer to go with her, but that means I'll have to see "them" and I knew they weren't too fond of me.

I huffed, looking up to the ceiling. "Wait."

Haruhi stopped as her hand was on the handle of the door and faced me. "What?"

I turned my head to face her, seeing the slight agitation on her face. "I'll go with you."

She just blinked at me, confused by my sudden change of action. "Huh?"

"I said I'll go with you." I murmured, putting my notebook in my bag as I stood up from my chair and began walking towards her. "Anything to keep me away from home."

I opened the door and exited the library, walking the direction to the club room that was still imprinted in my memory. As I was halfway down the hall Haruhi exited the library and caught up with me.

"Hold on," she said out of breath, "what's with the sudden change of plans?"

"You offered me that I could come with you, so because I don't want to go home I'm taking you up on your offer. Even if I don't really want to."

"Hikaru…" She grabbed my arm, making me stop. I turned to her with a glare, but noticed her doleful expression. "What's wrong, why are you avoiding going home?"

"Because," I hissed, yanking my arm out of her grip, "there's nothing to do there. So instead of being bored at home. I'd like to stay here."

"Hikaru, if there is something going on I could try and help-"

"Help with what?!" I snapped angrily, making her jump from the sudden change of tone. "Even if there was something going on at home with me, what could you possibly do?! You're just a commoner who probably has a happy family where you're parents are still together happily and love you!" My glare hardened at her. "So what could you do to fucking help?!"

Haruhi just stared at me as I was panting, my energy drained from me yelling at her. I turned away from her, about to walk away and leave the school instead of going to the club when she spoke up.

"I may not be going through what you're going through, but I'll tell you one thing and that is my life isn't even close to being perfect." She said, swallowing the lump in her throat before continuing. "My mom passed away when I was four from a sudden illness. My dad had to work days and nights to earn enough money to support both of us. Sometimes he would skip meals to make sure I was fed three times a day. So no, I don't have a perfect life, not even close but that doesn't stop me to try and live my life to the fullest. Even if there are some drawbacks." I just stood there, my back to her, clenching my fists. "I know that we're usually at each other's throats, but I want you to know I'm here to help-"

"My mom is an alcoholic!" I blurted out, a big feeling of relief being weighted off my chest. I soon began feeling tears welled up in my eyes and slowly began to trail down my face. "She's an alcoholic…"

She saw my shoulders shaking and realized that I was crying. She looked at me sadly. "Hikaru…"

I began wiping the tears from under my glasses, but more just came out. "When she's drunk she abuses me for the littlest things. Yesterday because I left our new neighbors house during dinner and talked back to her she punched me in the eye and forcefully held my head underwater in the bathtub for so long that I almost passed out." I sobbed, not even trying to hold it back anymore. "I just don't know what to do."

I was suddenly cut off when a pair of arms wrapped around my waist from behind into a hug. I was shocked by the impulsive action, and usually I would've been repulsed by it, but this time I wasn't. I was rarely ever vulnerable to people anymore, not even to Kaoru because I felt like it was duty as the older twin to protect him and not let him worry about me, but this sudden change felt good. Years of grief and abuse finally being let out after being bottled up for so long made her arms bring me comfort, letting more tears fall.

Haruhi opened her eyes when she began to hear whispers and unwrapped her arms around me. She turned around and saw students whispering to each other and some female students glaring at her.

She grabbed my arm. "Come on, let's go somewhere more private."

I didn't say anything and I let her lead me to the closest empty classroom. She shut the door, ignoring the glares that she was receiving; she then led me to the front of the classroom where I sat down, my back to the wall and brought my legs to my chest. I finally stopped crying, but felt like I could burst again at any moment. Haruhi got a box of tissues from the teacher's desk and handed them to me, but I politely turned them down. She sat the tissues next to her before sitting down next to me.

"So was your mom the one who gave you the black eye?" She asked solemnly. I nodded, feeling tears began to welled up in my eyes again. "Is this the reason why you act out in school, because of what's happening at home?"

I wiped the tears from my eyes before they could fall. "No, not really. I do it to protect Kaoru."

She looked at me confused. "What do you mean?"

I let out a big sigh, I can't believe that I was going to tell her about my personal life, but I just needed to let it out.

"I haven't always been like this. I was actually a decent person believe it or not."

Haruhi snorted. "Yeah, I find that really hard to believe."

I smirked at her. "Fuck off."

We both chuckled which wasn't awkward, it actually felt nice, but my expression soon turned back to serious.

"Anyway, after my dad's sudden disappearance and with the police not being able to locate him; my mom soon masked her sorrows into alcohol. She would drink every night when we were in bed so we wouldn't see her, but we knew what she was doing. Then after a couple weeks she began drinking all day long because she couldn't deal with being sad anymore and that was when she started being abusive." I swallowed the lump in my throat, trying not to cry as I continued. "At first she would hit both of us if we angered her. In the beginning it affected us greatly, where we would cry and cower in fear every night because of how bad it was, but after a month of the abuse, we just got numb to it. I usually got abused more because I have a temper and my mom didn't like that, but one day I did something really stupid."

I clenched my fists, feeling a mixture of anger and sadness hit me. Haruhi gave my arm a comforting squeeze and I let out a shaky breath before continuing.

"My mom got remarried about a few years ago and Kaoru and I didn't like him, still don't. When they just got married Kaoru and I were in the living room and I saw their wedding topper. Our mom treasured it, but we hated it. I was already having a bad day because of my step dad and when I saw it on the living room counter I just snapped and broke it without realizing it. We were both shocked at what I just did then grew terrified when we heard her footsteps coming down the stairs. We hid in the closet and slightly opened the blinds to see what was happening. When she saw the topper broken on the floor she grew livid and immediately knew that it was me. She yelled my name multiple times, getting angrier and angrier when I didn't come out. I was terrified, I've never seen her that angry before. I knew that when I step out that I was going to get a severe punishment. Kaoru saw how terrified I was and hugged me, he then whispered into my ear "Don't try and stop me, alright." We knew that mom couldn't tell us apart when she was drunk When I realized what he was doing I tried to convince him not to do it, but when he left the closet he locked the door so I couldn't get out…The beating…"

I shook my head, a small tear escaped and trailed down my face remembering that day. It might've been years ago but it was still vividly embedded into my mind.

"It was brutal. I tried everything to get the door open, but it just wouldn't budge. I just sat there and cried." Tears began falling down my face again as I continued. "I cried as I watched my baby brother get beaten for something I fucking did...I actually thought I was going to lose him that day, but luckily mom stopped before he could fall out of consciousness. When she finally left he slowly got up and staggered to the closet and unlocked the door….His face….His face was covered in red marks and cuts that were bleeding badly. He was so weak that he could barely stand, and what was weird is that he smiled at me. I don't know why but he did and then collapsed into my arms, barely breathing. I dragged him to a neighbor's house and made up a story about how he was jumped so the neighbors would take him to the hospital without them getting suspicious."

I took of my glasses, wiping the tears with my sleeve, ignoring the dull pain from my black eye.

"He had a bad concussion and the doctor said that if we had brought him in any later that he would've died. Just thinking about it still brings a chill down my spine. I stayed with him overnight. The next day his body was covered in black bruises and cuts. I told him that I was sorry and cried in his arms, but the only thing that he told me was that it was alright and he was ok, but it was obvious that he wasn't."

I sighed before putting my head in my hand, my expression saddening.

"It should've been me in that bed, beaten not him. So that day I made a promise to myself that I would do everything in my power to protect Kaoru no matter what. I started getting into trouble at school, the start of high school I started smoking to try to get in more trouble and reduce stress from everything that was happening around me. My mom got all these calls and emails from teacher and the principle about my behavior that she said I was a disgrace to the Hitachiin name. She would beat me, but nothing close to what happened to Kaoru. Kaoru would even try to convince mom that he was the one who got in trouble but our mom would never believe him. He hates what I'm doing, but it's the only way I can protect him. After what he did for me, risking his life for a fucking idiot like me, there's nothing in the world that I could do to make it up to him. I don't care if I got beaten, I don't care if it looks like he's the good son and I'm the bad son, as long as he's safe I'm ok with it."

I looked over at Haruhi and saw that she was mortified at what I just told her. She's known Kaoru for a couple years and would've never suspected anything this horrific was happening to him. He always seemed so bright and happy, always nice towards her and everybody else. She wondered how he could be so bright when at home it was so dark.

"What was the worst thing she's done to you?" She forced out, afraid to know the answer.

I bit my lip nervously, then began untucking my shirt, revealing a medium size scar on the left side of my abdomen. Her eyes traveled down to it. "My mom got severely drunk one night," I retucked in my shirt, "Kaoru was on an overnight trip last year that I couldn't go on because I got on trouble for punching a guy who was trying to seduce a girl who didn't want anything to do with him. Mom got angry when she saw me home when she got home from the bar because she remembered why I was there and not on the trip. We argued loudly with each and when she was starting to get out of hand I tried to calm her down, but that only made her angrier. She grabbed an empty beer bottle and smashed it over my head, then stabbed me in the side with the broken bottle." I put my hand on where my shirt was covering my scar. "I was tempted to call the police that night...but I just couldn't…"

"Hikaru," she said softly, making me look over at her, "you have to tell someone about this." She grabbed my arm and tried to get me up. "Let's talk to the chairman; he'll know what to do…"

"I can't!" I hissed, ripping my arm out of her grip.

"And why not?!"

"Because," I sighed, looking away from her, "I know that's not my real mom, it's just the alcohol that is making her do this. I can get her clean." I said looking back at her. "I've done it once before I can do it again." I grabbed her hands and looked into her eyes. "Just promise you won't tell anyone this unless I let you, please...I can't risk losing my mom, especially after what happened to my dad."

Haruhi just stared at me, seeing my pleading expression. She was a bit shocked that the guy with the "Bad boy" reputation at the school was acting this way towards her, but now she understood. She probably would've done the same thing if she was in his shoes. Whenever her dad was drunk he wasn't violent but he did sometimes acted like different person, but never to her. She was glad he didn't drink like he used to, but he would sometimes come home from work a bit tipsy.

She sighed. "Fine, I won't tell anyone." She then glared at me. "But if you get severely hurt again, I'm not just going to stand by and watch, alright?"

I smiled at her. "Alright," I gave her a big hug, which was surprising for both of us because I've never really been affectionate towards someone at school and when it was it usually awkward or I just didn't care about them, but with this my body just did it on its own, and it felt good. "Thank you."

She wrapped her arms around me, feeling a bit awkward that the person who hated her not even ten minutes ago was now hugging her, but even though it was awkward, it was nice. When I was about to let her go the door suddenly opened.

"Am I interrupting something?"

We separated, our arms still loosely around each other as we looked over towards the door where we saw a male teacher with his free hand on his hip and the other holding a stack of flies.

Haruhi and I both blushed and let go of each other before standing up.

"We're sorry." Haruhi apologized. "We weren't doing anything bad, I promise."

"Yeah, sure." He said, obviously not believing her. "Just get out of my classroom."

We both grabbed our bags and left the classroom without another word. For the rest of the way to the club room we were silent. I put my aviators back on when got to the third floor and stopped in front of the door to the music room. I looked at them, feeling my heart began to beat fast from being nervous. I haven't been here in two years, and I haven't really seen the guys either.

Haruhi noticed the way I was acting and looked up at me with a questioning look. "What's wrong?"

"It's just...I haven't seen the club members in about two years and we didn't really leave off on good terms."

"Let me guess, you were a dick?"

"Yeah, I guess you can say that..."

"Well, how about I go in and talk to them for a bit, then call you in? Would you like that?"

I nodded. "Yeah, I would like that very much."

She grabbed the door handle. "Ok, I'll call you in soon." She then opened the door and walked into the club room.

I shifted from one foot to the other, growing more nervous by the second. I don't know why I was suddenly so nervous meeting them. Before I would've just gave them a snarky remark like I usually did to people, but I guess because of my talk with Haruhi, my emotions were all out of whack. A couple minutes slowly passed by and I was contemplating if I should leave or not.

"Alright, come in." I heard Haruhi call out.

I took in a deep breath, grabbing the door handle. Was it really worth it? I could find something else to do instead of this stupid club, but I did tell Haruhi I would come with her, though I never really kept promises…

I shook my head. "Fuck it."

I then slowly opened the door, the fresh smell of roses instantly hitting me. God what did I just get myself into?


	5. Chapter 5

I slowly opened the door half way and peeked my head in. Almost immediately the room grew quiet as the members of the club saw me. They probably thought I would never come back after the outburst I had during the third year of middle school that caused me to get thrown out of the club. After the shock wore off an angry glare appeared on the leaders face.

"You," Tamaki hissed, pointing at me, "what are you doing here?!"

As I opened my mouth to respond Haruhi glared at him.

"I brought him Tamaki senpai." Haruhi said, making Tamaki look down at her mortified.

"Haruhi, why would you bring that-that devil into here?! Don't you know what he did to us?!" Tamaki screeched, making me wince as it hurt my ears from how high it was.

Haruhi rolled her eyes at his outburst, knowing that he was overreacting. "Senpai stop overreacting, yes he's a pain in the ass, but he's at least somewhat decent when you get to know him. Also you call Kaoru a devil all the time and he's actually a great guy."

"You don't understand Haruhi." Tamaki said, walking up to her and grabbing her shoulders, making her look up at him. "Yes, Kaoru is a devil, but Hikaru...he's far worse. He's actually Lucifer himself! I wouldn't be surprised if he grew horns and a tail then began poking us with his pitchfork as he tries to get us down to hell!"

I rolled my eyes and crossed my arms over my chest. "Actually, thorns and a tail with a pitch fork is a stereotype." I smirked as I looked over at him. "I actually have wings."

Tamaki gasped and held Haruhi close to him, to keep her protected and also because he was scared.

"See, I told you Haruhi! He's actually the devil!"

Haruhi rolled her eyes for what felt like the umpteenth time that day and huffed as she pinched Tamaki's hand, making him gasp and let her go.

"Senpai again, stop overreacting and Hikaru stop encouraging it. I can only handle a certain amount of his stupidity a day."

"Stupid?!" He gasped before crouching in a dark corner, making my smirk grow.

"So does that mean Hika-chan is rejoining the Host Club again?" Hunny asked.

"Hell no." Tamaki and I said in unison, making us glare at each other.

"I would rather fucking rot in hell then be back in this shit hole." I remarked.

Kyouya pushed up his glasses as he walked over to stand next to Haruhi. "I would prefer if you didn't curse in here Hikaru." His grey eyes met my hazel ones in a heated glare. "We had this problem before when you were actually apart of this club."

"Yeah I don't remember that. I erased all the memories of ever being associated with this club."

Kyouya hummed a laugh. "If only we can do the same." He smiled up at him. "It's really nice to see you again."

I hardened my glare at him. "Screw off." I looked back over at Haruhi. "How can you put up with these people?"

"It's a mystery to me too." Haruhi sighed, rubbing her temples as she felt a headache coming on. "But I have to."

"You don't "have" to."

"Actually she does." Kyouya intervened, making me look back over to him. "She broke a $80,000 vase, and of course because of her low financial income she can't afford to pay it back, so we made her a host and her quota is one thousand customers."

"How did you even break the vase in the first place?"

Haruhi pointed over to Tamaki and without even saying anything I instantly understood. When I was in the Host Club Tamaki was really up in everyone's face to try and get to know them. It looks like he hasn't changed and did the same shit to Haruhi, making her break the vase.

"Well it's not really your fault." I said, drawing everyone's attention back to me. "Tamaki was the reason why you bumped into the vase, so he should be the one to pay for it."

"What?!" Tamaki screeched again, but even higher.

"I'll agree with that." Haruhi said as she raised her hand, making Tamaki whip his head over to her.

"It's not my fault that the vase was broken! Haruhi just accidently bumped into it!"

"Yeah, because you kept getting too close to me which resulted in me knocking over the vase."

"Bu-But…" Tamaki glared back at me. "You," he hissed again as he pointed at me, "stop tainting my daughter with your-your delinquent...ness!"

My smirk fell and I blinked in confusion. "Daughter?" I looked over to Haruhi. "What does he mean by daughter?"

"Senpai, I thought we talked about you stop calling me your daughter." Haruhi said through gritted teeth.

Tamaki sweat dropped and covered his mouth. "Sorry, it was out of habit."

"God, you're even more of a pervert than I thought. I don't understand how these girls are all over you." I ran a hand through my disheveled hair, making it look even messier, and yet also sexier. My smirk appeared on my face. "Though I shouldn't be that surprised. You're probably just as easy as those fucking girls."

Tamaki looked over at me furious, making my smirk grow. I must've brought up a sore topic. He then marched up to me and grabbed the collar of my jacket and pulled me up to his face until our noses were almost touching. He was livid, and it was starting to get hilarious.

"What did you say?!" He hissed through clenched teeth.

"You heard me!" I mocked, making him even angrier as I grabbed the collar of his blazer.

He gripped my jacket tighter. "Are you looking for a fight Hitachiin?!"

"Ha, I'd love to see you try and beat me!"

Tamaki released one hand from my collar and formed it into a fist, but before he could do anything Haruhi got in between us and pushed us away from each other.

"Enough!" She yelled as she separated us. "I get that you two don't get along. Tamaki senpai," she looked over at him, "stop taking everything so literally, and Hikaru," she faced me, "stop trying to get under his skin, he's already sensitive enough!"

"I'm not sensitive!" Tamaki protested. Haruhi glared at him, making him feel small and grow silent. "Sorry…"

She then glared at me, which I responded with a glare as well. We glared at each other for a bit, as if we were in a heated staring contest, a dark aura surrounding us, making everyone around us feel a mixture of being uncomfortable and terrified. Then after a minute I huffed and put my hands in my jacket pockets.

"Fine, I'll stop." I grumbled as I looked away from her. "For now…"

I then suddenly felt a tug on my jacket, I looked down and saw Hunny, holding his bunny in his hand as he looked up at me with a questioning stare.

"Hika-chan, what happened to your left eye? It's all bruised." He asked concerned.

I looked over to Haruhi who seemed nervous by the question. I just pushed up my glasses so my black eye wouldn't be covered again.

"It's nothing," I replied coolly as I put my hands back in my pockets, "don't worry about it."

"He probably got it from a fight with another student, like the delinquent he is!"

"Senpai," Haruhi said in a warning tone.

Kyouya looked at me for a couple seconds as if he was studying me, then began writing something down in his black notebook.

"Hikaru, how's your mother doing?"

My eyes grew wide and I looked over to him. "What?"

"Your mother," he said as he looked up at me, "how is she?"

I cleared my throat uncomfortable before crossing my arms over my chest. "She's good, why do you ask?"

"Well my family's hospital usually keep tabs on their patients every couple weeks, but your mother missed her check up. My father wanted me to ask Kaoru if she was ok, but he's in New York. So since that you're here, I thought I would ask."

Shit, I forgot about the rehab center that mom went to was one of the Ootori's hospital. They always called mom every few weeks to make sure she hasn't relapse. The first few months she would follow up with her promise with the check ups, but I guess she forgot this week or knew that they were going to figure out she relapsed.

"She must've forgot." I lied, moving my eyes to look back and forth from him to Haruhi out of nervousness. "She's just been really busy with her new line."

"Hmm." Kyouya hummed in reply as if he didn't particularly believe me as he went back to writing in his notebook.

"Wait, something's wrong with your mother?" Tamaki asked, actually concerned. "What's wrong?"

I didn't reply to him and looked away. Kyouya just sighed as he closed his notebook.

"Nothing, I shouldn't have brought it up."

"But, but…" Tamaki looked back from me to Kyouya, "if she's really is sick I want to help."

I clenched my jaw, starting to feel irritated as he continued to pester us about my mother.

"It's none of your business." I said through clenched teeth.

"But-"

"Just drop it Tamaki, before he gets angry." Kyouya warned.

"I'm just worried about a friend's mother. Kaoru is all the way in New York, I want to make sure she's fine."

I clenched my jaw tighter, feeling more and more angrier as he continued talking about my mother. Haruhi noticed how angry I was getting. I started clenching my fists, trying to reduce the feeling to punch him because I knew Mr. Suoh wouldn't particularly like it if I punched his son, but my anger was soon going to be too much for me to hold back.

"Senpai, I would really drop the subject right now." Haruhi warned. "You're making him angry."

"I'm sorry, I just wanted to make sure that-"

"Shut up!" I snapped, making everyone look over at me. "You don't fucking know what's going on! So stay out of my fucking business!"

Tamaki gulped, a little frightened by my outburst. "I-I'm sorry, like I-I said, I just wa-wanted to make sure everything is alright with my friend's mother."

"Alright? Alright?!" I began to charge towards him, but Mori held me back by my arms. I tried to fight against him, but I knew it was futile.

"You probably don't even care about her well being! You're just trying to keep up this fucking act of being a prince so everyone will see you as this nice, charming, caring fucker, but I see right through Suoh. You only care about is your fucking self like the selfish bastard you fucking are!"

Tamaki hid behind Haruhi, in fear that I would get out of Mori's grip and attack him. He's seen me angry before, especially that day that I was thrown out of the club, but I wasn't even close to being this angry.

I tried to get my arms free from Mori's grip by thrashing around a bit, but he had a good grip on me. I soon grew tired and gave up trying to fight against his grip. When Tamaki saw that I calmed down a little and peeked his head out from behind Haruhi.

"Lo-Look I'm sorry, I didn't realize i-it was a sore subject." He gulped as he peeked his head a little further out. "Sorry."

I just stood there, panting from my outburst and my failed attempts to get free. I then noticed that everyone was staring at me. A warm blush appeared on my face when I realized what I did. Even though I hated his guts, I let out all my anger from yesterday on him, just like I did to Haruhi after our tutoring session.

"Hikaru, are you alright?" Haruhi asked.

I looked at everyone around me and they actually looked concerned about me, even Tamaki and Kyouya. I knew that apologizing was the right thing to do, but I was too stubborn to actually do it. I got out of Mori's grip and began backing up towards the door.

"Fuck off." I grumbled before storming out of the club room.

"God, what's his problem?" Tamaki asked as he stood up, no longer hiding because I was gone.

"So, it's happening again." Kyouya mumbled to himself, Haruhi the only one hearing it.

She looked over at Kyouya, seeing he had his hand to his chin in thought, a worried expression on his face.

"Kyouya senpai," she whispered, drawing his attention, "can I talk to you privately?"

He nodded and Haruhi led him to the corner of the room, far away from the rest of the club members so they wouldn't be able to hear their conversation.

Haruhi looked over at the other club members, they were looking at them with confused expressions and when she knew they wouldn't be able to hear her she looked over at Kyouya with a glare.

"What was that all about?" She hissed. "Were you trying to piss him off?!"

He pushed up his glasses. "So you know too."

"Huh?"

"About their mother, you know she's an alcoholic."

Haruhi just stood there speechless, shocked that those words came out of Kyouya's mouth. She thought she would've been the only one who knew, but it was Kyouya after all. He had his ways of getting information.

"H-How did you-" She attempted to stutter out before Kyouya cut her off.

"Kaoru told me last year." He answered; he looked over at the door, tapping his fingers on his arm that was crossed over his chest. Haruhi could tell that he was actually really concerned. He cleared his throat and looked back at her. "Kaoru got a call the first night of the ski trip from the hospital saying that Hikaru had gotten stabbed. He got the call during dinner and by how his expression drastically changed I knew something was up."

"So that's what the phone call was about. When he said it was a family emergency and left the table, it was because Hikaru had gotten stab...by his mother…"

Kyouya nodded. "Yes, so Hikaru must've told you that story." Haruhi nodded as well, feeling her heart drop. "Anyway, because I felt something was up, I followed Kaoru outside to try and make sure he was alright.

* * *

 **Kyouya**

 _ **One year ago**_

 _Kyouya quietly closed the door to the dinning hall, to make sure Kaoru didn't know that someone followed him out. Immediately he noticed footprints in the snow, leading towards the side of the building, he could faintly hear Kaoru's voice, but couldn't make out any words he was saying. He carefully began walking, trying his best to keep the snow crunching under his boots as quiet as possible as he followed the footprints. As he reached the wall where the footsteps went around, Kyouya could now clearly hear Kaoru's voice. Deciding to stay where he was he slightly poked his head out and saw Kaoru near a wooden railing that led down to the stairs to the area where to ski at. Kaoru had his phone to his ear as he had his other hand on the railing, Kyouya could tell that something bad must've happened by his expression._

 _"How bad is it?" Kaoru asked to the person through the phone. "Could he die from it?" He listened to the response the person gave him, biting his lip. He then let out a sigh of relief, causing mist to appear from how cold it was. "Good, that makes me feel a lot better thank you. I'm glad the stab wound was patched up in time before he lost too much blood." He looked down sadly, fighting back tears. "I don't know what I'd do without Hikaru at a time like this."_

 _Kyouya listened in shock, Hikaru got stabbed? He knew that he got into a lot of fights, but he was smart enough to not fight anyone with a weapon. He must've been jumped or something like that._

 _Kaoru gave a nod as the person on the other line said something else. "Thank you very much, I'll leave as so as I can, bye."_

 _As Kaoru hung up the phone he leaned on the railing, taking off his beanie before running his hand through his hair as he let out a frustrated sigh._

 _"Shit…"_

 _Kyouya sensed that he might break down at any moment so he decided that it was the best to give him his privacy, but as he turned and began to leave, the ice crunched under his boot loudly the first step he took, drawing Kaoru's attention over to him._

 _"Kyouya, what are you doing out here?"_

 _Kyouya cursed under his breath then turned back around to face Kaoru. There was no point in lying so he decided to just come clean._

 _"I was worried about you, so I followed you out to make sure you were ok."_

 _Kaoru bit his lip nervously, fidgeting with his phone in his hand. "Did...Did you hear everything?"_

 _"Just what you said. All I know is that Hikaru was stabbed, that's it."_

 _"Oh...ok." Kaoru looked down, now playing with his beanie that was also in his hand._

 _"If I may ask, did you figure out how he was stabbed?" Kyouya asked._

 _"Uh...he," Kaoru bit his lip harder, trying his best to hold back his tears, "he…"_

 _Kyouya grew concerned as tears welled up in Kaoru's eyes and began breaking down, crying in his hands. Kyouya just stood there, not knowing what to do. He wasn't really the type of person that comforted people, but he felt like he needed to do something for his friend._

 _He walked over to Kaoru and grabbed his arm, making Kaoru look up at him. "Come on, let's talk about it." He led Kaoru to a bench near the railing. He wiped of the snow for both of them before they sat down._

 _"Now tell me everything. I think there's a lot more to the story then Hikaru randomly being stabbed."_

 _Kaoru just sat there silently, staring down at the snow, crunching it with his boot for a bit as if he was stalling, but he then let out a sad sigh._

 _"I didn't want to go on this stupid ski trip." Kaoru finally responded, his voice faint. "But Hikaru practically forced me to go, saying that I shouldn't have fun because of him. I know what he's doing." He shook his head and huffed. "And I hate it."_

 _"What is he doing?" Kyouya asked._

 _Kaoru looked over at him, giving an expression as if he was contemplating to tell Kyouya or not. He then looked back down._

 _"Hikaru," he started, playing nervously with his beanie, "he's trying to protect me."_

 _Kyouya cocked an eyebrow in confusion. "From what? What would he want to protect you from?"_

 _Kaoru clenched his beanie, tears welling up in his eyes again. "...From our mother."_

 _Kyouya just sat there, stunned and confused by his answer. "Can you elaborate on that, please?"_

 _Kaoru looked over at him, unsure if he wanted to tell him, afraid what he would do._

 _"Kaoru, if something bad is happening at home I can help, but only if you tell me."_

 _Kaoru looked back down, softly kicking the snow with his foot. "I'll tell you," he rolled his eyes back up to Kyouya, "if you promise not to tell anyone. Not even your father."_

 _Kaoru gave him a concerned look. "Kaoru…"_

 _"Promise me."_

 _Kyouya sat there quietly, he knew if he said no Kaoru wouldn't tell him what was going on at home with their mother, but if he said yes then if something horrid was happening at home, then he wouldn't be able to help._

 _He sighed defeated before finally answering. "Fine, i won't tell anyone."_

 _Kaoru nodded then began telling Kyouya about everyone. About how his father disappearance caused his mother to turn into an alcoholic and how she started abusing them. Kyouya just listened in horror as Kaoru talked about the night he was severely beaten, and about tonight with Hikaru. He knew that Yuzuha was having a hard time dealing with her husband's disappearance, Kaoru has mentioned it before, but Kyouya would've never imagined this._

 _After Kaoru was finished telling Kyouya everything they just sat there in an awkward silence. A cold breeze blew past them, but Kyouya barely noticed it as he was still processing what was just told to him._

 _As the shock faded a bit, Kyouya cleared his throat before speaking._

 _"So...she abuses you two?" Kyouya choked out, making sure he was hearing correctly._

 _Kaoru nodded, not looking at Kyouya. "Yeah, but she mostly hurt Hikaru because-"_

 _"Because of his rebellious attitude." Kyouya finished, making Kaoru nod again, "and he only acts that way so he can protect you."_

 _Kaoru huffed again, running a frustrated hand through his hair. "I hate that he does that, I can't stand to see him hurt."_

 _"And you feel like you need to protect him?" Kaoru nodded and Kyouya continued. "He feels the same way Kaoru. I don't blame him for wanting to, especially after the night you almost died because of the stupid thing he did." Kaoru looked over at him again. "He feels like he has to redeem himself for feeling like a horrible brother, and I know if you were in his situation you would to. Am I right?"_

 _Kaoru let out a soft sigh before nodding. "Yes, I would. I would've done exactly the same thing he's doing to protect him. Even if it means my life is in danger."_

 _"How much does she abuse you..?"_

 _Kaoru was a bit surprised by the sudden question about him, but it soon faded and he began rubbing his right shoulder before answering._

 _"Not as much as Hikaru. I'm more of a warm up while Hikaru is the actual fight. Though mom only usually abuses me when Hikaru isn't around."_

 _"When was the last time she hit you?"_

 _Kaoru felt tears welled up in his eyes again and let his hand on his shoulder fall as he looked out into the woods, refusing to answer. Kyouya understood why Kaoru didn't want to talk about this, he would rather talk about anything else, but if Kaoru didn't tell him what was going on, how would he be able to help him?_

 _"Kaoru," as Kyouya touched his shoulder Kaoru immediately flinches, as if he was in pain. Kyouya then noticed a small purple bruise on his neck peeking out from the collar of his jacket. As of seeing it, he then started to realize how Kaoru was physically acting today._

 _When he was teaching Haruhi how to ski, she landed in his arms, causing Kaoru to let out a painful grunt. As Haruhi was apologizing Kaoru was rubbing his shoulder as he said it was ok and that he hurt himself while skiing a few hours before. He also said that he was sitting out a lot because of how tired he was because he barely got any sleep the night before from how excited he was for the trip, but now Kyouya knew those were lies._

 _Kyouya grabbed Kaoru's arm and stood up. "Get up."_

 _Kaoru looked up at him confused. "Huh?"_

 _"Come, get up."_

 _Remaining confused, Kaoru did as he said and Kyouya began leading him off somewhere._

 _"Kyouya, where are you taking me?"_

 _Kyouya ignored Kaoru's question and looked around at the cabins until he spotted the one he was looking for, which was Kaoru's and Haruhi's room. He lead Kaoru into the room and closed the door, locking it. He then faced Kaoru, who was still confused._

 _"Take off your shirt."_

 _"Huh?!"_

 _Kyouya glared at him. "I'm not trying to make a fucking pass at you. We both know I don't swing that way and neither do you, but I need you to take your shirt off." Kaoru just stood there, looking at Kyouya with eyes as if he was pleading him not to make him, but Kyouya was unfazed by them as he hardened his glare. "Now."_

 _Kaoru sighed defeated and unzipped his jacket slowly before shrugging it off, letting it fall to the ground. He then grabbed the hem of his shirt and began playing with it in his hands nervously. Avoiding eye contact with Kyouya._

 _"Kaoru," Kyouya said, making Kaoru look back up at him, "if you don't take your shirt off now. I'll do it myself."_

 _Kaoru hummed a groan that had a sad ring to it before taking off his shirt, fighting off a painful groan from moving his shoulder._

 _When he dropped his shirt on the floor and Kyouya made a spinning motion with his finger._

 _"Now turn."_

 _Kaoru did as he said and slowly turned around until his back was facing Kyouya, and where a huge blue and purple bruise was now in front of him. It started from the mid right side of his neck and traveled down to the bottom of his right shoulder blade. Kyouya just stood there mortified at what he saw, it was far worse than he ever imagined. He couldn't even imagine how Hikaru's body must've looked like if Kaoru's was this bad._

 _"Kaoru," Kyouya finally choked out, "what happened?" Kaoru remained silent, crossing his arms over his chest as if he was trying to cover his body. "Please tell me."_

 _Kaoru sighed for what felt like the umpteeth time that day before answering._

 _"Hikaru was out doing some errands while I was digging through the mail, trying to find our report cards. I knew that Hikaru's grades were poor and I also knew that I was failing math class so I was trying to find them so I could hide them from mom before she she could get to them, but I was too late. Mom had already gotten them and when she saw that I was home she started lecturing me. I knew better then to fight her but she threatened to hurt Hikaru because his grades were far worse. I begged her not to hurt him and followed her up the stairs to try and get her to change her mind, but it only annoyed her."_

 _Kaoru tightened his grip around himself, feeling tears trail down his face._

 _"She pushed me down the stairs backwards, causing me to dislocate my shoulder. When Hikaru came home about ten minutes later he saw that I had gotten hurt and while he helped fix my shoulder he kept on apologizing. I tried telling him it was alright, but he wouldn't take it. Then right after we fixed my shoulder, mom stormed downstairs, she must've heard Hikaru and found out that he was home."_

 _He swallowed the lump in his throat, letting more tears fall. "She began yelling at him about his grades and how he was an embarrassment. She then began to hit him multiple times in the face, hard. I tried to get her to stop, but she then turned on me and punched me in the face, causing me to fall back and hurt my shoulder even more. Hikaru got her attention again so she'll start hitting him again." Kaoru soon began sobbing in his hands again. "I don't know what to do."_

 _"Why don't you tell anyone?" Kyouya asked._

 _"Because," Kaoru began wiping away his tears and looked back over to Kyouya. "If I do we'll be taken away and she'll be put in jail. We don't want that to happen because we know that fucking bitch isn't our mom. We want to try and get our mom back...but after tonight, what she did to Hikaru, I don't know what I want anymore." He then looked over at Kyouya. "Please don't tell anyone about this."_

 _"Kaoru…"_

 _"Please," Kaoru pleaded, "or until I tell you, you can. Let us try and get her healthy first."_

 _Kyouya stood there silently, contemplating weather if he should keep his promise of not telling his father or not. If he told him the twins mother would be put in jail, along with their step father for not doing anything to stop the abuse, but he would lose Kaoru's trust and they might be put into a foster program because they're underage. But if Kyouya didn't tell, their mother would continue to hurt them, and maybe even kill them. He didn't want to lose Kaoru's trust, but he also didn't want him to get killed, or his brother, no matter how big of an asshole he is. There had to be a solution that would benefit both side. Suddenly an idea popped into his mind._

 _"Fine," he replied finally, "I won't tell anyone."_

 _Kaoru smiled. "Thank you Kyo-"_

 _"But," he interrupted, "you have to put your mother in rehab for her to get better and I'll help you with that, but if not I will tell my father everything and have you taken out of that house along with Hikaru. Do we have a deal?"_

 _Kaoru bit his lip unsure, then nodded. "Deal."_

 _Kyouya and him shook hands, which actually made Kaoru start to feel safe, maybe Kyouya knowing was the best thing because he could actually help them._

 _"Alright, put your shirt on and I'll call my driver to come pick us up."_

 _"Wait, you're coming with me?"_

 _Kyouya nodded. "After what you just told me I'm not letting you go back to that household. You're going to be living with me while your mother is in rehab and when Hikaru gets out of the hospital he'll stay with us as well."_

 _Kaoru's eyes began to water again, but this time it was tears of happiness. He then went up and hugged Kyouya._

 _"Thank you." Kaoru sobbed. "Thank you so much."_

 _Kyouya hugged him back lightly, so he wouldn't hurt him. After they separated, Kaoru put his shirt and jacket back on then they left the room when Kyouya's driver notified him that he were here. Kyouya explained to the other club members that Kaoru had a family emergency so he was going to take him home. So after they said goodbye to the club members they got into the limo and drove to the hospital where Hikaru was._

* * *

Haruhi could feel a lump in her throat as Kyouya finished telling her what happened. She didn't know what to think.

"So...that's the real reason why Kaoru left."

"Well, we technically didn't lie." Kyouya said. "It actually was a family emergency…So Hikaru told you everything."

Haruhi nodded. "Yes, he broke down in the hallway about fifteen minutes ago and told me everything that's happening. That's also probably the main reason why he lashed out at Tamaki senpai, because of all the emotions he had pent up inside."

"I just want you to know is that Hikaru isn't a bad person, it's just an act. He's actually quite nice when he warms up to a person, which is rare. He's just really damaged." He smiled at her and tilted his head towards the door, gesturing for her to go. "Go after him."

Haruhi just looked up at him for a couple seconds before nodding and making her way towards the door, ignoring the protests from Tamaki for her to stay as she left the club room.

* * *

 **Hey guys I'm really sorry for the two month long wait, I've been really busy. I had to update my other stories _Asylum_ and** _**Frozen Heart,** _**then I got into some drama in school with some (now former) friends, it's really stupid so I'll spare you the details. Then I was in a play for our senior year and we're preformed it last month so I've been busy with that. Also senior portfolio had me stressing out, but hopefully I can update a lot quicker now.**

 **Thank you all for being patient with me, please F &R. Until next time.-HH1957 **


	6. Chapter 6

**Hikaru**

I used my free hand to cover my lighter as I tried to light my cigarette in my mouth. I groaned in annoyance as my lighter wouldn't work, which was causing me to become even angrier then I was. After a couple of more tries I was finally able to light it. I put my lighter back in the pocket of my jacket and huffed out a puff of smoke, not taking my cigarette out of my mouth.

I leaned against a wall at the side of the school, watching other students walk around, talking to friends or participating in club activities. I sighed before taking another drag of my cigarette, trying to clear my mind of what just happened. I knew visiting the Host Club was a bad idea, I should've just stayed in the library until school closed then hopefully by the time I got home mom would've been passed out in a dunkin slumber.

"I knew if I followed the smell of smoke I would find you." I looked to my right and saw Haruhi walking up towards me, a slight smirk on her face. "You really need to work on your anger."

I glared at her and grabbed my bag. "Fuck off."

I turned to walk away by Haruhi grabbed my arm. "Hikaru, don't leave."

I ripped my arm from her grasp and faced her, scowling at her. "What's with you and touching me? I don't know about you, but I don't like being touched by anyone."

"Sorry…" She apologized as she pulled her arms away. "I should be more careful, especially after…" She looked up at me with doleful eyes. "You know…"

I rolled my eye and dropped my bag before leaning back on the wall. "You don't have to fucking pity me because of what my mom does to me."

"It's not entirely that Hikaru…" I looked back over at her forwarding my brows, her expression was soft with a twinge of sadness in it. "I know this whole bad boy persona is an act."

"What do you mean by that?" I hissed.

"Kyouya told me about that night when we were on the ski trip and Kaoru told him everything." My expression slightly softened, but soon hardened again and I faced away from her again.

"Fucking Kyouya." I grumbled as I took another drag of my cigarette.

"He was just telling me so I would know what's going on with you."

"Well, he has no right to tell anyone about "my" personal life," I gave her a side eye, "and neither do you."

"We just want to help you."

"This is a thought, maybe I don't want your fucking help."

Haruhi glared at me. "You really are ungrateful are you?

I just shrugged my shoulders and took another drag. Haruhi's expression hardened and she snatched the cigarette out of my mouth.

"What the fuck?!" I snapped, glowering at Haruhi as she threw my cigarette on the floor and stepped on it, putting it out.

"You're stopping this stupid act right now, and I don't care if I have to beat the niceness out of you!"

I looked at Haruhi wide eyed and just stared at Haruhi in silence as the air grew tense around us. She was a bit confused about my reaction and why I was staring at her like that, then suddenly realized what she said and covered her mouth.

"I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to word it like that." She let her hands fall to her sides and sighed. "What I'm trying to say is that I know you're not this mean, tough guy who everyone is scared of. It's just an act. I want to get to know the real you, and if that means I have to hang around until you trust me, I'll do it."

I just remained silent as I stared at her, feeling all types of different emotions. A part of me was annoyed that she way trying to pry into my personal life. She knew nothing about what I was going through aside from what Kyouya and I told her, and she thinks she can fucking try help me. Pathetic….but, yet...I also felt grateful that she was concern and cared about me...it feels like it was a long time since someone actually had beside Kaoru.

It felt like a weird trance as we stared at each other, as if I were a wild animal being calmed down by looking into their trainer's eyes. She then slowly reached up with both hands and removed my sunglasses, revealing my black eye. She then moved her right hand up to my face and I tensed up as it hovered over my left cheek. She slightly pulled her hand away, then looked back into my eyes and saw the slight fear in them, which she's never noticed before.

"Not everyone is going to hurt you." Haruhi said in a comforting tone. "I want you to trust me." She hovered her hand over my cheek again, seeing me tense up again. "Just try and trust me."

She put her hand on my left cheek and at first I grew even tenser by her touch, but by the way her expression looked, and by how comforting her eyes were, I soon grew calm. I let out a small breath of air that I was holding in and soon grew calmer as I began leaning my face in her hand. Her hand was soft and warm, and it felt safe. It felt like no one could hurt me.

It reminded me of how mom's hands used to felt when we was younger, when she use to comfort us when we scared or sad, but now...mom's hands were rough and cold. Instead of comforting us, they were hitting us…

I soon grew tense again, my heart began to pound loudly in my chest and I felt like I couldn't breathe. I grabbed Haruhi's hand before taking it off of my cheek, feeling all those feelings go away.

"I don't trust you quite yet." I muttered before letting her hand go and leaning back up against the wall.

She smiled. "You said not yet. So that means you'll be able to trust me in the future."

I rolled my eyes again and muttered under my breath, "We'll see," before I sat down.

She sat down, but kept a slight gap between us to make sure I was comfortable. "We need to start working on you stopping that bad boy act," I just rolled my eyes for what felt like the umpteenth time today and I grabbed my pack of cigarettes and put one in my mouth, but before I could light it, Haruhi took the cigarette out of my mouth and the pack out of my hand, "and the first thing is to get you to stop smoking."

I glared at her as she had a smug smirk on her face as she held up my box of cigarettes up, as if taunting me.

"I don't know if you forgot about this, but I'm rich. I could literally buy truck loads of those and it won't even put a dent in my wallet."

"Yeah, it may not put a dent in your wallet, but it'll put a huge dent in your health."

I grumbled under my breath as I put one leg to my chest and laid the other one out straight as I laid my arm across it as I look out at the field. "Whatever."

Another awkward silence surrounded us. We just sat next to each other for a couple minutes, not saying a word to each other. Haruhi began to shift a bit from the awkwardness, she then would look over at me then quickly away before I would notice as she twiddled her thumbs.

"So, are you-"

"Don't you have a fucking club to go to?" I interrupted her, giving her an icy glare.

"Kyouya let me leave early."

"I highly doubt that. We both sadly know that Kyouya wouldn't do anything like that."

"Well, this is a bit of a different circumstance."

I hardened my glare at her then looked away from her again. "Yeah, sure."

I began playing with my lighter, flicking it on and off as I opened and closed it. She just continued to look at me, she knew that she could get through the thick protective layer I had around me that I wouldn't let anyone in besides Kaoru if she just tried hard enough. She knew she knew she could break through it, she just needed a little more time. Then suddenly an idea popped into her head.

She let out an exhausted sigh and leaned her head on the wall. "I really need a ride home."

"There's a train." I replied, not looking at her.

"But the last train left a few minutes ago."

"Actually the last train leaves at six. You've got about half an hour to kill till then."

She glared at me. "Oh my God! Can you just give me a fucking ride?!"

I looked back over at her, cocking an eyebrow. "And why should I do that?"

"Because it would be the right the right thing to do, to help a...friend." We both slightly cringed at the word but wasn't as bad if she said it yesterday. She saw that I wasn't buying her excuse and huffed. "Also if you take me home you won't have to go back to your mother so soon."

I flinched slightly by the mention of my mother. I really didn't want to deal with her in her drunkin state right now, especially after what happened yesterday. Maybe if I took her up on her offer I could go off to somewhere close by after I drop her off until a time I know mom would be asleep.

I sighed and ran my hand through my hair, feeling my stress start to build up.

I closed my eyes and rested my head on the wall on the wall. "Fine, I'll give you a ride home."

Haruhi's smile returned. "Great," she got up, wiping the grass off her clothes, "let's go."

"Can I at least have my cigarettes back?" I asked, looking up at her with an exhausted glare.

"Nope," she said as she crumpled up my package of cigarettes in her hands, "I wasn't joking about you stopping." She put the crunched up box in her bag. "Now come on, let's go."

I groaned and slowly got up, rubbing my temples as a sharp headache began to form. I really needed that cigarette, especially after a day like today. I guess I'll get one when I get home.

I grabbed my bag before pulling out my keys and began walking towards the parking lot with Haruhi following close behind. The parking lot was never really full because most of the students here had private drivers that took them everywhere. We use to be like that until about last year. When Kaoru and I got our licenses mom let our drivers go so we can save money. We didn't really have any help anymore, maybe a maid or two would visit, but it was rare.

The sound of girls giggling caught Haruhi's attention, she looked to where it came from and saw two girls standing next to a tree, trying their best to silently get my attention by twirling their hair and biting their lips in a seductive manner. When I didn't even glance at them their faces fell, then their eyes traveled over to Haruhi, who was following close behind me. Soon their hurt expressions turned into scowls as if they saw something disgusting and then stormed off.

"Wow, no wonder Tamaki senpai wanted you in the Host Club. Girls attract to you like a hungry animals to a carcass. Especially with your bad boy look"

"Hmm, what a beautiful phase. I always thought of myself as a fucking piece of meat." I hissed.

She rolled her eyes. "You fucking know that's not what I meant so don't be snappy with me."

I huffed, feeling my headache getting even stronger. "All they want is sex." I said in a slight annoyed tone. "It's really annoying."

Haruhi chuckled. "The other guys at school must be irritated by that."

I hummed a laugh as a small smirk appeared on my lips. "Oh you have no idea. A lot of guys want me to give them "tips" so they can try and get laid"

"And what's your response?"

"I either just ignore them or walk away, but if I want to have a little fun I just say some random bull shit and watch the next couple days in amusement as they try and follow it."

"Like what?"

"Well, there was this one kid in freshman year and he wouldn't stop bothering me until I helped him get laid because he believed that I already fucked about every girl in the class."

"Will did you?"

"That's beside the point," I narrowed my eyes at her, "and you already know the fucking answer to that."

"Well, I don't know the entire answer. You did say you liked to stay a mystery." She said innocently.

I rolled my eyes. "Anyways," I said, getting back on topic, "the guy would follow me everywhere, including the fucking bathroom until I agreed to help him. After about a week I was sick of it and told him that his style and act was the reason why he couldn't get laid. So I gave him advice on what to look like and how to act."

"Which was?"

"I told him that he needed to "pimp" out more. Wear more flashy things, like get a grill so he could look like a rapper. I also told him he need to speak vulgarly to girls, that's what turned them on. Tell them you want to do stuff to them." My smirk reappeared on my lips. "Then the next day he did it. Followed everything I told him," I snickered, "and the reactions were priceless. He got slapped about fifteen times."

Haruhi cocked an eyebrow. "Really? He just followed your tips that easily? Not even questioning why you didn't even follow them?"

I shrugged my shoulders. "He was desperate. He would've done anything just to fuck some girl." I snickered. "It's ridiculous."

Haruhi smiled, seeing that I was actually enjoying our conversation, she was going in the right direction. Hopefully she could go even further before the day was over.

We walked up to my black mustang and I unlocked it. Haruhi looked at it in awe.

She touched the hood of my car with her finger tips. "Wow, this car is beautiful. It must've cost a fortune."

"Eh," I replied as I shrugged my shoulder. "It wasn't that expensive." I opened the door and leaned on it as I looked at her. "It was only around 30,000."

She scoffed, looking back towards me with a glare that looked like I offended her. "Not that expensive? My dad's used minivan didn't cost half of that."

"Are we going to compare the prices of my and your dad's cars or are we going to get going?" I asked with slight irritation in my voice.

Haruhi made her way to the passenger side and we got in. I started up the car then looked over at Haruhi as I held out my hand towards her. She looked at it, then up at me, cocking an eyebrow in confusion.

"Sunglasses." I demanded.

Haruhi rolled her eyes at my tone. "God, you don't have to be rude." She took my sunglasses out of her pocket and handed them to me. I put them on and put my car in reverse.

"You're welcome."

"Whatever." I grumbled, pulling out my phone and handing it to her. "Put you address in."

She did what I said and handed it back to me. After I hooked my phone up to my car so I could follow the directions I backed out of the parking spot and left the parking lot.

* * *

 **Haruhi**

The whole drive to Haruhi's apartment was silent. The only sound that filled the car was from the radio. Haruhi would steal a couple glances of him, trying to figure out what to talk about to get through to him. He was starting to warm up when they were talking about how most of the girls lustfully wanted him, but for some reason when she brought up the price different on his car and her dad's, it turned him off from the conversation. Well, car prices wasn't really the best conversation to try and break the ice with someone, so I guess she didn't really blame him for backing out of that conversation.

She sighed and looked out the window. This was a lot harder then she thought. She knew that Hikaru and Kaoru were different, but she thought if she brought up anything her and Kaoru enjoyed talking about, maybe he would enjoy it as well. Kaoru did say they liked similar things. It was worth a try, maybe the mention of Kaoru will lighten things up.

"So, how's Kaoru doing in New York?" Haruhi asked, looking over to Hikaru.

He just shrugged his shoulders. "He's doing good."

Haruhi waited for more of an answer, but he didn't give one. She cocked an eyebrow.

"Really, just "doing good?" Nothing else?"

"Nope?" He responded, popping the P at the end.

"So he's not doing anything exciting, like seeing a Broadway show, like the trip had planned?" Hikaru just ignored her, making Haruhi agitated. "God, you're such a dick!"

He just snickered and looked over at her. "You just figured that out?" He looked back at the road. "Took you long enough babe."

Her glare hardened at my smirk. "I'm not your babe, and so you know I'm trying to get know you, but you're making that really hard to do."

"I think you learned enough about me today." He rolled his eyes over to her briefly before looking back towards the road. "Also what's with you wanting to get to know me? You never wanted to before. In fact, you wanted nothing to do with me."

"Well, I didn't know the whole story behind why you were a jerk, but now that I know that it's an act and Kyouya actually conforming that you're a pretty nice guy, I want to get to know that guy. Not the guy right now next to me with a protective wall around him because afraid he's going to get hurt."

Hikaru glared at her. "I'm not afraid of getting hurt."

"Then prove it. Try to open up to me."

Hikaru's glare softened and he just looked at Haruhi for a bit before looking back towards the road. The rest of the ride was silent. When the car pulled up to Haruhi's apartment complex Hikaru killed the engine. They sat in the car silently for a bit longer until Haruhi unbuckled her seatbelt.

"Thanks for the ride."

"Uh yeah, no prob-"

"Haruhi?" A cheery voice called out. Hikaru and Haruhi both looked up at the apartment complex and saw what looked like a woman with reddish brown long hair and wear all kinds of different shades of purples from the skirt, to shirt, and sweater, and they had a face full of makeup that looked decently done standing up on the balcony. "You're home early."

"Oh, it's my dad." Haruhi said nonchalantly.

"Dad?!"

Haruhi looked over at Hikaru and saw the surprised look on his face, which didn't faze her. "Kaoru didn't tell you? My dad works at a transvestite bar. He works nights so he must've just finished getting ready." She opened the door and got out of the car, keeping her hand on the hood of the car. "Hey dad, Kyouya senpai let me come home early today. By the way this is Hikaru." Haruhi introduced by motioning to his car. "He's Kaoru's twin brother."

"Hikaru? I think I've heard you mention him before. With a couple of other choice words if I remember correctly." Ranka smiled. "Why don't you invite him for a bit? I'll love to meet the boy who's been giving you such a hard time. Maybe he can even stay for dinner."

Haruhi looked over at him in the car. "Well?"

"Nah, I'm good."

"Come on, I promise it won't be that bad, and what are you going to do if you refuse. I know you're not going home. So just give it a chance."

Hikaru stared at her for a bit, contemplating whether he should or not. What was he really going to do if he refused? He wasn't going to go home until late at night. He was most likely going to go to a cafe or somewhere similar to past the time and grab some dinner, but if their offering…

He huffed and unbuckled his seatbelt. "Fine, but only for ten minutes, thirty tops."

Haruhi smiled. "Perfect"


	7. Chapter 7

**Hikaru**

I followed Haruhi up the stairs of her apartment complex to where her dad was standing right in front of the door. Her father held out a surprisingly well manicured hand.

"I'm Ryoji Fujioka, but you can call me Ranka."

I shook his hand. "Hikaru Hitachiin."

He released my hand and looked me up and down. I felt a little awkward as I could feel the judgment in his eyes as he scanned me. I wonder what Haruhi told him about me?

When he was done he looked back up at me. "So you're the guy who's been giving my daughter a hard time during your guys' tutoring sessions?"

"Uh...yeah…"

"Mhm, you're lucky you're handsome or I would have a real problem with that. So I'm going to give you a chance to redeem yourself."

"Uh...thank you..?"

Ranka winked at me and walked into the apartment. "Come in, I'll go get us some drinks. Is there anything you prefer?"

"Water's fine." I said as I walked into the apartment.

Ranka went into the kitchen to prepare the drinks and I scanned the apartment as Haruhi closed the door behind her. The apartment was small; it had about two bedrooms, a bathroom, a small dining room that was connected to the kitchen. To be honest it was bigger than I expected, but it was still too small for my liking.

"So," Haruhi walked up next to me, "what do you think?"

"It's small." I answered bluntly.

"Well yeah, it's an apartment. They're supposed to be small."

"I've seen bigger bathrooms than this."

She glared at me. "You don't have to be rude you know."

I looked at her. "Well, you asked for my opinion."

"Yeah, I got to learn to stop doing that." She murmured as she walked over to the dining room, with me following behind her.

The table was a decent size, could fit about six, seven people if you squeeze tight enough. I sat across from Haruhi and we stared at each other silently for a bit, a slight awkward silence surrounding us.

"So…" I said, trying to break the silence. "Your dad seems interesting."

Haruhi chuckled. "Yeah, I get that a lot." She put her elbows on the table and placed her head in her hand, a small smile formed on her lips. "He's always done drag, but started doing it a lot more when my mom passed away. I think it's his way to try and be a mother to me as well as a father and I really appreciate it."

I had my head in my hand as well, my glasses covering the slight sadness and envy in my eyes.

"Oh no, no, no." Ranka said as he walked into the room with a tray of drinks. "Why are you two sitting apart from each other?" He slightly nudged me with his foot. "Move to sit next to her."

I just blinked in confusion then got up and looked over at Ranka.

"Go on, she doesn't bite."

"Yeah, but he might." Haruhi muttered, causing me to glare at her.

I then sighed and made my way over to the other side of the table and sat next to Haruhi.

Ranka smiled. "See, that wasn't so bad now, was it?"

He placed the drinks on the table and Haruhi and I sat awkwardly next to each other. We kept about a five inch distance from each other and we sat with our hands in our laps, avoiding looking at each other as Ranka gave us our drinks and made himself comfortable across from us, his smile still on his face.

"So Hikaru, tell me a bit about yourself."

"Uh, what do you want to know?"

"Well, what do you do as a hobby?" Ranka asked.

I shrugged my shoulders. "Nothing really. I don't really have any hobbies."

"Actually, you do have two." Haruhi said, making Ranka and me look over at her. I raised a questioning eyebrow at her. "Smoking and starting fights are your main hobbies. Oh and being a complete dick too. So you have three hobbies."

I glared at her, when she responded to with a smirk.

"Yeah, those are _definitely_ my hobbies." I said through gritted teeth.

"Oh Haruhi, don't tease him." Ranka waved off his daughter's comments before looking back towards me. "Do you have any plans for the future?"

I never really thought about my future. I wasn't really into fashion so I didn't really plan on taking over mom's business as a designer, and well for my dad's software company, he technically still owned it but someone else was taking charge until he hopefully returned, which I highly doubt would happen. I was too focused on what was happening in the present to really be thinking about my future.

"No, not really." I finally answered. "I might take over my mother's company just as an owner. I'm not really into fashion."

"What about your father, doesn't he own a company as well?"

I could feel my stomach drop at the question. My chest began to tighten and it kinda felt hard to breathe as if there were a ton of bricks lying on my chest. I didn't really like talking about my dad, it wasn't because I hated him that much, but it just hurt.

Haruhi glared at her dad. "Dad!" She hissed through her teeth

"What?" Ranka asked innocently. He then looked over at me and saw how uncomfortable I was acting. I pushed up my glasses and faced away. A light bulb went off in Ranka's head and he gasped. "Oh, I'm sorry. I totally forgot about your situation when Kaoru talked about it. I feel so stupid for bringing it up."

"No, it's ok." I sighed, facing back towards them. I had my hands cup together trying my best not to fidget so they wouldn't know how uncomfortable I was. I usually would've gotten mad if someone brought up my father. Maybe it was because they knew what it was like to lose a family member so suddenly.

"My dad disappeared about three and half years ago. He went off to work and never came back. We called his work and they said he left at his usual time, but we grew worried because he was hours late arriving home. When morning came and he still hadn't returned we called the police. We thought he got into an accident and were preparing ourselves for the worse, but we all were shocked when the police found nothing. Not his car or any trace of him." I swallowed the lump in my throat. I hated talking about my past as much as I hated talking about my father, I hated that people would start to pity me, but even though I could see that Haruhi and her father were doing the same thing, it didn't bother me as much. "When weeks went by and he didn't return home and the police found no evidence that he had been kidnapped it kinda...tore my family down...especially my mother. I could take over his company if I really wanted to, I just don't know if I could because it'll remind me too much of him."

I rolled my eyes over to Haruhi and saw by her expression that she was a bit shocked at how open I was to them and to be honest, I shocked myself a bit. What was with her and how she getting me to open up so much today?

Ranka sighed sadly and leaned back in his chair. "I somewhat understand how you feel." He said, causing me to look back over towards him. "My wife got suddenly very ill when Haruhi was four. It hit us really hard, especially Haruhi because she couldn't really understand why she wouldn't be able to see her mother anymore." He gave me a sad smile. "So we might not know how exactly how you feel, but we're here for you and Kaoru if you even need us." his smile turned bright and he raised his hands in excitement. "Ooh, you guys can be like a part of our family."

"Oh, God no." Haruhi groaned. "I'm ok with Kaoru being a part of the family but not him." She used her thumb to point to me.

"Oh hush!" Ranka waved his daughter's comment off again. "Don't listen to her, she's just being a brat, you can definitely be a part of the family." He took a look at his watch. "It's almost 6:00, I should start dinner." He looked back up at me. "What do you like to eat Hikaru?"

I shrugged my shoulders. "It doesn't matter real-"

"He likes Italian food." Haruhi interrupted me.

"Ooh, I know what just to make." He said as he shot up from his chair and made his way to the kitchen.

I looked over at Haruhi in shock. "Wait, how did you-"

"Kaoru's favorite type of food is Italian. I remember him mentioning that you two have similar tastes." She smirked and looked back in front of her. "If only you two had similar attitudes, then maybe you would be a decent person."

"Hmm," I faced forward as well. "Well, at least I'm not a bitch."

"Oh yeah, you're way worse. You're a fucking asshole."

A mischievous smirk spread across my face as I rolled my eyes back over to her then looked back forward.

"Cunt."

Haruhi gasped and back handed me in the gut hard, causing me to groan in pain as I held my stomach and placed my head down on my arm.

She gasped again at what she just did and leaned towards me. "Oh my God Hikaru I'm so sorry. It was out of instinct. I really didn't mean to-"

She stopped mid sentence when she saw my shoulders began to shake and she heard muffled laughter. She stared at me in confusion as I lifted my head and continued to laugh.

"God, who knew you could hit that hard." I said as my laughter began to die down. "You hit a lot harder than most of the guys I get into fights with at school."

She blinked in confusion. "Wait, so you're not mad at me for hitting you?"

"No, why would I be?"

"Uh, well because…" She pointed to my left eye.

I understood what she was talking about and I rolled my eyes. "Don't worry about it. I literally get into fights all the time, getting hit doesn't really bother me. You know, unless it's someone I care about." I said as I brought my water to my lips before taking a drink. I then noticed the slight hurt expression on her face and it actually...made my chest hurt, as if I kicked a puppy or punched a baby.

I rolled my eyes again and huffed as I put my drink down. "Don't make that fucking face. I don't mean it like that."

Haruhi blinked a bit, realizing the face she was making and turned her expression neutral. "What face? I wasn't making a face."

I let out a short laugh. "Yeah right, you were hurt because I said I don't care if people I don't give two fucks about hit me." I smirked at her. "I knew it was playful. So calm down before you blow up from worrying."

Haruhi opened her mouth to protest but then noticed what I said. She smiled. "So you're saying you care about me?"

"...I never said that."

"Yes you did. You told me that you didn't mean what you said to me and that you didn't care that I hit you because it was playful, but I bet if I actually did hit you, you would be hurt." She scooted closer to me. "Admit it, you do care about me."

"No."

"Come on, admit that you actually give two fucks about me."

I glared at her. "No I don't." I faced away from her and picked up my drink again. "I just don't give one fuck about you."

Haruhi smiled grew. "Well, we're making progress then, and I'm happy with that."

I glared harder at her then noticed a small shrine at the corner of the room with a picture of a woman in the center of it. My glare softened.

"Is that your mom?" I asked, motioning to the shrine.

Haruhi's smile somewhat faltered as she looked at his shrine. "Uh yeah, that's my mom. Her name was Kotoko." Haruhi smile soon turned bittersweet. "She was a really great lawyer and I really looked up to her, so that's why I really want to follow in her footsteps and become a lawyer myself."

I could see her eyes start to water a bit, but not enough to make her cry. She then turned towards me, a slight smirk on her lips. "And who knows, maybe I can be your lawyer when you get in trouble with the law."

I snickered. "We can only hope so."

I didn't understand she was doing it, but she was opening me up way more then I liked, but yet for some reason, I didn't care.

I sighed and put my head in my hand. "I don't understand."

"Understand what?"

"How you're getting me to open up so much. No one has ever done that before besides Kaoru. Not even the counselors that Chairman Suoh forced me to get, but you, I don't know how you fucking did it."

"Maybe it's because you are subconsciously starting to trust me after you broke down to me earlier today. You even hugged me."

"Ugh," I groaned, "don't even talk about that."

"No I'm serious." She said, causing me to look back at her. "You literally hated me and I hated you. Usually that would mean we wouldn't tell each other anything personal but when I told you about my mom I believed that caused you to open up about your matter because we were both in pain."

Maybe she was right, that because she was the only one I knew who felt a similar pain so I felt safe to open up to her, but yet I also didn't feel like I could fully trust her yet...or could I?

"Let's make a deal." She said.

"What kind of deal?"

"That we don't have to be friends right now, but you at least try and give me a chance." She held out her hand for me to shake. "We can be frenemies."

"Frenemies?"

"Yeah, we're kinda friends, but also enemies."

"Since when have we been friends?"

She scowled at me. "For fucks sake Hikaru, will you at least try and stop being a fucking dick?!"

I huffed. "Fine." I shook her hand. "We're _frenemies_ , alright?"

She smiled. "Great."

We let each other's hands go and I checked my clock on my phone. "I really should get going."

"Really, you have to go right now?"

I stood up and straightened my shirt. "Yeah, I told you I'll only stay for ten minutes and it's been fifteen, so I'm going to head out."

"But my dad's making dinner." Haruhi said as she stood up as well and followed me as I began walking towards the door. "You have to stay for that."

"I don't have to stay for anything. I already kept my promise of staying ten minutes."

"Hikaru!" She whined.

"Haruhi." I mocked her whine.

She glared at me then ran ahead of me and used her body to block the door. I stopped in front of her and gave her an annoyed look.

"What the fuck are you doing?" I asked.

"I'm not letting you leave this early."

I rolled my eyes. "You're being childish."

I went to go reach for the doorknob but Haruhi slapped my hand away. I stared at her, shocked by her action, but soon that shock turned into anger and I went to reach for the doorknob again but she just slapped my hand away again.

"Haruhi, "I growled, my patience running thin," if you would fucking move that would be great."

Her glare hardened, challenging mine. "Yeah, I'm sure you would."

I clenched my fists in anger, growing less and less patient with her. "Just fucking move!"

"Make me!" She challenged.

"Fine!"

I wrapped my arms around her waist, causing her to yelp in surprise by the sudden action and I lifted her up. She began punching my shoulder and kicking her legs as she struggled to try and get out of my grip.

"Put me down Hikaru!"

"My pleasure." I replied curtly as I turned around and tried to place her down.

But as her feet touched the floor she wrapped her arms around my neck and held my head down. I grabbed her arms and tried to get her to release her grip.

"Fucking let go of me!"

"No, not until you agree to stay and mean it!"

"Fine, I'll stay!"

"You're fucking lying and I know it!"

My glare grew furious as I bared my teeth as if I was a wild animal and she just hardened her glare, challenging me. Maybe if I lifted her again I could get her to release or at least loosen her grip around my neck. God, for a petite girl she sure had a strong grip. I wrapped my arms around her waist, but before I could lift her up again…

"What's happening here?"

Both Haruhi's and my glare immediately fell and we looked over towards the voice and saw Ranka holding a tray of chicken, looking at us confused. Haruhi and I looked back at each other and noticed the position we were in. Our faces were only a couple of inches apart, our noses almost touching. She had her arms around my neck and mine around her waist. It looked like we were about to passionately kiss each other. We both blushed and quickly let go of each other.

"Dad, it's not it looks like, I promise. We were just-just…"

"Practicing dancing." I answered for her. "The Host Club is having another ball soon and she needed some practice because her beat was off because she's used to doing the male role."

Haruhi looked at me in shock, probably about how I knew about all that information.

Ranka smiled. "Oh ok, I was worried a little you two got a little too cozy when I was making dinner." He was obviously joking, but that didn't stop our blushes growing darker. "Come sit down while I get the rest of dinner out." He said as he put the chicken down on the table.

"I really have to get-"

"Sure thing dad." Haruhi interrupted me as she grabbed my arm and dragged me back to the table.

She forced me to sit back down in my chair before she took her own seat. After Ranka went back to the kitchen I glared over at her.

"I told you I was fucking leaving!" I hissed.

"Well I'm not allowing you to be a fucking bastard to my father by leaving while he's making dinner for you!" She hissed back.

"I didn't ask him to make dinner; you were the one who told him what I liked!"

"Can you please be a decent person for once and do this one thing for me?!" She sighed out of exhaustion. "I know that we butt heads a lot, but I want to try and be friends, because you need some."

"I don't _need_ friends."

Her glare returned back on her face. "That's bull shit and you know it. I've seen you alone around the school looking miserable because Kaoru's not around. So don't fucking lie to me."

I wouldn't admit it to her, but she was right. With Kaoru gone I was miserable, I had no one to hang out with. I would be lying if I said I hadn't tried talking to people, at least trying to make acquaintances with them, but because of my reputation no one wanted to really be near me. Unless it was a fucking girl trying to hook up. So because of that I usually was alone, and I aslo usually ate lunch alone in the courtyard. Watching mostly couples have lunch dates or a group of friends hang out. Again I would be lying if I said I wasn't jealous, being alone wasn't the best feeling in the world, and seeing Kaoru have all these friends and hanging with them made me feel even worse.

But yet I also didn't hate being alone all the time. I didn't have to deal with drama from friends if we had a stupid fight. Won't have to deal with their problems. Though there are a lot more cons than pros for being alone.

I huffed, blowing my bangs out of my face. "Fine I'll stay, but you owe me."

"Owe you what?"

I smirked at her and gave her a wink. "You'll see."

Haruhi just forwarded her eyebrows in slight confusion and before she could say anything else Ranka returned from the kitchen with the rest of the food along with the plates and utensils.

"Alright, so on today's menu is chicken parmesan with broccoli and French bread." He said as he passed out the plated and the utensils. "Bon appétit."

He sat down and we all began serving ourselves some food. I stared at the food for a bit on my plate, a little unsure if I actually wanted to eat this. It wasn't because it looked unappetizing, it actually looked quite good and smelled amazing, but even though I had less money than before I was still a rich kid with rich kid tastes.

I picked up for my fork and knife and cut a piece of chicken, staring at it, still a bit unsure. It did smell really nice; a lot better than the shitty meal I had over at my new neighbors' house last night. I ate the piece of chicken and instantly a burst of flavor filled my mouth. Holy fuck, our old chiefs couldn't even make anything this amazing.

"I can see you like it." Ranka chuckled, breaking me out of my trance.

"It's amazing," I complemented, which was a rare thing for me to do, "and I'm not the biggest fan of chicken."

"Well, I'm glad to hear that, but I can't take any credit for it." He motioned his head over towards his daughter, causing me to look over at her. "She made the chicken this morning before going to school. I just put foil over them to keep them fresh and warmed them back up for dinner. We made an extra one for leftovers, but we don't mind you having it.

Haruhi looked over at me and saw my shocked expression. She gave me a slight smirk. "Thank you for the compliment. I didn't know you were capable of doing that."

I glared at her and faced away, sticking my nose up. "It could be better; it's not even close to the best thing I ever tasted."

Haruhi scoffed. "Your facial expression tells a different story."

Both of our glares hardened as we locked into another battle. It would've lasted a lot longer, but Ranka's laughter broke us out of our battle. We looked over at him confused.

"I'm sorry." He apologized, trying his best to calm his laughter down. "But I can tell you guys like each other, even if you guys don't even show it."

"I wouldn't go that far yet dad." Haruhi grumbled.

"That I can agree on, minus the _yet_ part." I added, causing Haruhi to glare at me again.

"Oh stop it, your mother and I had the same type of relationship when we first met. A love hate relationship."

"Love?!" Haruhi exclaimed, a slight blush warming her cheeks. "Dad, I think you got the wrong idea."

"Oh, are you sure about that? Because by the blushes on your guys faces are saying otherwise."

Haruhi looked over at me and saw that I was facing away from them, a slight blush warming my cheeks as well, a small scowl on my face.

Ranka chuckled. "I'm just teasing; I know it's not that kind of love." He smiled at both of us. "But I wouldn't deny that. I wouldn't mind you two going out. It would be a lot better than-"

"We already talked about this dad." Haruhi interrupted Ranka, causing me to move my eyes over to look at her. "I don't want to have another argument about this, especially now because we have a guest here."

I forwarded my eyebrows in confusion, not really understanding what they were talking about, but I let it go.

For the rest of the dinner I mostly remained silent, only speaking if Ranka or Haruhi spoke to me. After dinner I somewhat helped clean, if bringing my dish to the sink counts as helping. After everything was cleaned up Ranka and Haruhi walked me to the door.

Ranka shook my hand again. "It was very nice to meet you Hikaru. Hopefully you can come over again soon."

I was just about to thank him for dinner until Haruhi spoke up first.

"Hey dad, I'm going to have a quick conversation with Hikaru outside."

"Oh, alright." He winked. "Don't get too crazy out there. We don't want to disturb the neighbors."

"Dad!"

"Oh I'm just teasing again, go talk you two." He said as he waved for us to go."

Haruhi grabbed my wrist and led me outside, closing the door on the way out. She faced me and saw the look of minor annoyance I was giving her.

She cocked an eyebrow. "What's with that look?" She then looked down and noticed that she was still holding my wrist. She quickly let it go. "I'm sorry, I forgot you don't like being touched."

I rubbed my wrist where she held it." "Yeah, you seem to forget that a lot." I put my hands in my jacket pockets, feeling the cool autumn breeze blow past us. "So, what did you want to talk about?"

"Do you have my number?"

I cocked an eyebrow at her, then pulled out my phone and looked through my contacts. "Yeah, I'm pretty sure. Mr. Suoh kind of forced me to put you number in so I most likely have it." I looked back up at her. "Why do you ask?"

"I just…" Haruhi bit her lip nervously, as if she was trying to piece together what she was going to say. "I just want to make sure that you're safe. I don't want your mother to hurt you badly." She looked back at me, trying to look into my eyes through my sunglasses. "Also if you need someone to talk to, I'm always here."

I just stared at her, clenching my phone loosely in my hands as I stared at her.

"Why?" I asked. "Why are you being so nice to me all of a sudden when I've been such an complete asshole to you?" Then a light bulb lit up in my head and I scowled at her. "Is it because you pity me because of what my mother does to me, because if it is I don't really want to deal with someone pitying me."

"It's not all that Hikaru." She said, the soft tone in her voice making my scowl somewhat falter. "I want to know the real you, not this act you put on for everyone, because after finding out that this tough guy act is all fake, I want to know the real Hikaru," she gave me a small smile, "and I believe today I saw a small glimpse of him, and I liked him."

I just continued to stare at her. Did I really let my guard down around her? No, I couldn't have, we still barely knew anything about each other. There was no way she could've done that...right?

"Hikaru?" Haruhi said my name, causing me to break out of my thought. "So, will you text or call me of anything happens?"

I didn't take my eyes off of her. I felt this warm feeling in my chest that I haven't felt in a long time...was it happiness? Happiness that someone actually cared about me besides my own brother..?

After a couple more seconds of just staring at her, my scowl returned and I looked away from her, shoving my hands back in my pockets.

"Hikaru-"

"Fine," I huffed, not looking back at her, "to make you feel better I'll agree to text or call you if I need to."

Haruhi smiled. "Thanks Hikaru." I was about to turn to leave when Haruhi spoke up again. "So wait, how did you know about the upcoming ball the Host Club is throwing, and how did you know about how I need practice doing the female part."

"I told you before, I was in the Host Club during my last year of middle school for a bit. Also Kaoru has mentioned a time or two about how they taught you the male part when your gender was hidden, but now that's out that you're a girl you needed help doing the girl part." I shrugged my shoulders. "I don't understand what's so hard. You just have to follow the males lead."

"You know how to dance?"

I stared at her in slight disbelief. Did she just ask me that? "Well yeah, of course I do. You didn't really think that Kaoru was the only one who was taught?"

Haruhi chuckled, clearly embarrassed from asking the question as she began playing with her shoulder length hair. "Yeah, I guess that was a stupid question."

I shrugged my shoulders. "I haven't danced since I was in middle school. I might be a little rusty, but I can still dance."

"Maybe you can teach me." Haruhi said, obviously joking.

I hummed a laugh, a small smirk on my face. "When hell freezes over."

Haruhi just smiled at me, then let out a soft sigh. "Well, I better let you get going, it's getting late." She looked back over at me, the same smile on her face. "Well, because we're trying to become friends-"

"I never agreed to that."

"Well, I'm going to say you are. So again, since we're trying to become friends how about we give each other a hug goodbye before you leave?"

I could tell by the tone in her voice that she was joking, and I couldn't help but smirk at it.

"Yeah, no." I said as I turned on my heels and began heading towards the stairs.

"Well, it was worth a try, but you hugged me earlier today so I'll take that. See you later."

I just flipped her off as I went down the stairs, which she just responded with a small chuckle, and I'd hate to admit it, but hearing her laugh actually somewhat turned my smirk into a smile, but only slightly.

* * *

I pulled up to my house and parked my car in its usual spot, a few feet in front from the old oak tree, and across the driveway from Kaoru's white camaro. I sighed and turned off the ignition of my car and just sat in it, looking at Kaoru's car. A feeling of sadness and loneliness quickly filling me. I know he's having fun in New York, and I even forced him to go, but since he's been gone I really regretted it. I thought I could handle myself for a couple months, but it's been really lonely at school and especially at home. I'm just grateful he's allowed to Skype me every night or I don't know what I'll do.

I played with my sunglasses that I had hanging off my shirt. I took them off while driving because it would've been to dark to see anything if I didn't. I looked at the clock in my car, it was just a few minutes past nine. Hopefully mom was already passed out by now.

I took the keys out of the ignition and got out of my car, locking it. I slowly made my way over to the door, trying to buy as much time as I could. I unlocked the door and entered the house as quietly as I could, closing the door on my way in. The living room was dark, which was a good sign because it usually meant that everyone in the household was asleep, but this time it was different.

"So you finally decided to come home." Mom's voice said, causing me to freeze up.

She turned on the light in the kitchen and I looked over at her with terrified eyes. She had a kitchen knife in her hand and a glass of what looked like whiskey in the other.

"Where were you?" She asked in a stern, but slurred voice.

I gulped, keeping my eyes on the knife. "I was with my tutor. We decided to go back to her house and-"

"And what?!" Mom spat harshly, making me flinch. "So you could fuck her and play with her emotions like most men do?!"

"N-No, it wa-was nothing like that mom. I-I promised, we were just studying."

Mom's glare hardened, staring into my eyes to see if I was lying. She then smiled brightly, which was even more terrifying.

"Well that's good," she said in a frightening cherry voice, "because you know what I'll do to you if I found out that my baby boy tried anything like that before he was married." I just watched her terrified as she walked over to the kitchen. "Well, since that you're finally home, how about you enjoy this nice dinner I made for you? It's salmon, I know how much you like that when I make it for you."

I did enjoy it when she cooked it sober, but as she brought it out to the dining room I could tell it was burnt and dry by how black the fish was. I also didn't really want to eat with her when she was like this.

"It-It's alright mom. I already had dinner at my tutor Haruhi's house. I'm not really that hungry."

As my words left my mouth, mom's face turned dark again. Fuck, I said the wrong thing again.

"So you don't want to eat this delicious meal I took so long to prepare for you?!" She hissed.

"It-It's not th-that mom." I lied. "I-I'm just full from eating dinner with my tutor." Mom's glare hardened as she slammed the food down on the dining table, making me jump, and began walking towards me. My eyes darted back to the knife in her hand. "Mom, what are you doing with that knife?" She ignored my question and continued make her way over towards me, causing me to start to back up. "Mom?"

My back hit that wall and I watched in fear as mom marched over to me. She stuck her face up to mine, her glare softened. She then began running the knife along my face. I stiffened my whole body as I felt the blade on my skin, petrified at what she might do to me.

"What am I going to do with you?" She asked in a calm voice, watching the knife as she continued to run it along my face. "You must've not learned lesson after you punishment from yesterday to not disrespect me."

"I-I wasn't trying to dis-disrespect you mom. I was ju-just trying to-"

"Shut up!" Mom barked, causing me to flinch again. "I guess I have to teach you another lesson."

My eyes began watering as she placed the blade to my left cheek.

"Mom I'm sorry." I apologized, trying my best to hold back my tears. "If-If you want I'll-I'll eat the dinner you made. Ple-Please just put the knife down please."

She just continued to look at the blade. "No." Her glare returned as she looked back up at me, meeting my terrified eyes. "You don't deserve dinner anymore. Brats like you don't deserve a loving mother's cooking. You just deserve punishments."

She then lightly pushed the blade to my cheek, causing me to hiss as the blade dug into my cheek, breaking the skin.

"Mom I'm sorry, I'm really sorry, just please stop." I pleaded, but she just ignored me.

I cried out in pain as she dug the knife deeper into my cheek, causing blood to start trailing down my face.

"You don't deserve a loving mother like me." Her glare hardening as she pushed the knife even deeper in my cheek. "From now on, you can fend for your fucking self!" She then pushed me down towards the stairs, causing me to look up at her terrified. "Now get out of my fucking sight!"

I got up, using the rail of the staircase for support as I stumbled up the stairs and to my room. I closed the door and leaned on it. I slid down to the floor and leaned my head up against the door. I finally let the tears escape my eyes and fell down my cheeks, burning the cut on my cheek. A mixture of blood tears falling on my white uniform shirt, which meant I'll most likely have to throw this shirt away I couldn't get the blood out.

After a few minutes I pulled myself together and stood up. I went to the bathroom and cleaned up the blood from my face, then cleaned the cut. I took a look at the cut, it wasn't too deep that it would leave a scar, but deep enough to bleed pretty bad. I opened the cabinet and pulled out a band aid and placed it over my cut. I then looked at my reflection. I looked like one of those kids you see in those P.S.A. commercials. My hair was messy, my eye was still badly bruised and I looked extremely exhausted. My skin was pale, dark circles under my eyes...why did I let this happen to me?

I shook that thought out of my head before leaving the bathroom. I walked over to my nightstand and opened the drawer, grabbing a box of cigarettes and taking one out before putting the box in my jacket pocket. I then took my lighter from the same pocket before slipping my jacket off and on the floor. I went over to the window and opened it before stepping out onto the roof. I walked a little further down until I was in my usual spot and sat down before lighting the cigarette. I took a long drag before sighing out the smoke, feeling the stress of the day start to vanish.

I looked up at the night sky, seeing a couple of stars. A cool breeze blowing past, relaxing me even more. I took another drag as I continued looking at the night sky.

After about ten minutes passed and I was done and burned out my cigarette. I sighed and was about to head back inside when I noticed something across the street at the new neighbors' house. I saw Mari in her room staring at me, a smirk on her face. I glared at her, indicating that I didn't want to see her after what she tried to do to me yesterday, but she either didn't see it or chose to ignore my glare as her smirk widened and she began sexually dancing in her room. I rolled my eye, but a small laugh escaped past my lips, she looked ridiculous. I hated her, but it was kind of funny watching her try to win me over by trying to flirt with me, which was never going to happen.

But soon her dancing grew even more sexual and she began stripping off her clothes. I was now starting to get uncomfortable as she was slowly taking off her shirt and before she could unclip her bra I got up and went back into my room, closing the window and pulling down the blinds.

"Fucking whore." I grumbled.

My phone dinging got my attention. I reached into my pocket and saw a text from Kaoru.

 _Hey, did you get your laptop fixed yet?_

I sighed before texting back, feeling bad that I was lying to him again.

 _Not yet, they said they'll be done in a few days._

I sat down on my bed and plugged in my phone before Kaoru responded.

 _That long?! What kind of porn site were you on to get that many viruses? Jk XD._

I rolled my eyes but let out a small chuckle.

 _Fuck off jackass. You know it has nothing to do with that._

 _Oh, so you're not denying it? Interesting._

 _I'm literally going to fly out to New York and beat the shit out of you if you don't stop._

 _Ok, ok I'll stop XD_

I got comfortable in my bed and smiled at my screen as I continued to text Kaoru. Telling him about my day, minus anything related to mom.

 _Oh, so you went to Haruhi's house? So does that mean you two are finally friends?_

 _I wouldn't go that far, but I don't hate her as much as I did yesterday._

 _Well that's a start. Hopefully you two will be friends soon._

 _Yeah, whatever._

We continued to text each other until I eventually fell asleep, just like what I did last night.

* * *

It was the next morning and I was walking into school. I decided not to bring my sunglasses because my black eye has faded a bit more, but I was still a little uncomfortable about people staring at it.

I walked into my classroom and went to my desk, next to Haruhi who was already in her seat. She looked over at me and smiled.

"Good morning Hikaru." She greeted.

"Yeah, morning." I grumbled back, putting my head in my hand and closed my eyes. Tired from the late night chat with Kaoru.

Haruhi's smile fell when she barely noticed something on my left cheek.

"Hikaru, what's on your cheek?"

"Hmm?" I opened my eyes and looked over at her. "What did you say?"

"Your cheek," she said, pointing to her own, "what's on your left cheek?"

"It's nothing." I said, closing my eyes again. "Don't worry about it."

As I got more comfortable in my seat I felt a hand grab my chin, causing me to open my eyes, and forced me to turn to them. I stared at Haruhi wide eyed as she looked at the bandage on my cheek.

"You didn't have this last night."

"I, uh…"

I began to feel uncomfortable as my face was so close to hers and I could hear people began whispering to each other.

Haruhi began to notice the attention we were getting and let go of my face. She then got up and grabbed my wrist. "Come on, we're talking outside."

Before I could even protest, Haruhi dragged me out of the classroom, ignoring the glares she was getting from the other girls and dragged me to a corner of the hallway where no one was.

She turned to me with a stern look. "Now tell me what really happened to your cheek."

I glared at her. "I told you it was nothing."

"Don't give me that bull shit Hikaru." She reached out to touch my cheek, but out of instinct I grabbed her hand before she could. "Hikaru, you can trust me." She reassured, her stern look turning doleful.

I continued to glare at her, but the sadness in her eyes made me give up the fight. I sighed and let go of her hand. She cupped my left cheek with her hand, making me flinch.

"God, you really are damaged, aren't you?" I didn't say anything and Haruhi pulled her hand away from my face. "Hikaru, what happened, please tell me?"

I sighed again and began rubbing the back of my neck. "My mom, she got angry that I had dinner at your house last night. She...cut my cheek with a knife."

I looked back over at Haruhi and saw her expression that was a mixture of sadness and guilt.

"Oh my God Hikaru, I'm so sorry. I wouldn't think your mother would do something like this-"

I held up my hand to silence her. "Don't worry, I don't blame you. You couldn't have known that my mom would do something like that."

"But still, I'm really sorry, I-"

I covered her mouth with my hand. "Really, you don't need to apologize. It's fine."

I removed my hand and she sighed. "Alright, if you really mean it." She then glared at me. "But why didn't you call or text me like I told you to do if this happened?"

I shrugged my shoulders. "I guess I forgot about that. I already had a lot on my mind so it must've slipped my mind."

"Just promise that next time you'll contact me."

"Fine, I promise to contact you. Even though I don't know what you can do."

"I just want to be there for you Hikaru, I want to make sure you're ok. I don't want something horrible to happen to you that will get you severely hurt or even killed. So please promise me."

"I said fine, didn't I?"

Haruhi smiled. "Great." She looked at the time on the clock in the hall. "Well we better get back to-"

"Hikaru?" A feminine voice called out.

Haruhi and I both turned towards the voice and my blood went cold. It was Mari, in an Ouran uniform!

"Fuck!" I cursed. "I forgot that she was going to start school here."

Haruhi looked at me confused. "Who is she?"

"She's my crazy new neighbor that sexual harassed me a couple nights ago."

Mari ran over to us and before I could run away she gave me a big hug, making me start to feel extremely uncomfortable from her touching me for many reasons.

"I'm so glad that I ran into you." She looked up at me with a pouty face. "I was so sad to find out that you weren't in class 2-D with me," she put her head to my chest and smiled, "but I'm just happy to be at the same school as you."

I tried to pry her arms off of me, but her grip was extremely strong. "I would definitely not love to stay and chat because one, I fucking hate you, and two, Haruhi and I have to get back to class."

She glared at me. "Haruhi, who's that bitch?"

Haruhi raised her hand. "Umm, I'm that bitch."

Mari looked over at her and her glare hardened. "Oh I didn't even notice you, must've been your clothes. Wearing an outfit like that isn't helping you sweetie."

"I don't really care if I get noticed or not."

Mari rolled her eyes and scoffed. "Did I fucking ask you what you cared about? No, I didn't, but I'll tell you one thing," she hugged my neck and lifted her leg up to my hip, making me glare harder at her, "stay away and get your own man."

"I already ha-"

"That's enough!"

I got out of Mari's grip and backed away from her. She looked at me innocently.

"What's wrong baby?"

"One, I'm not your "baby" and never will be, and two, don't ever talk to Haruhi that way!" I hissed, causing Haruhi to look at me surprised, surprised by my response. "I'm the only one who's to talk to her that way!"

Haruhi sweat dropped, not really knowing how to feel about my last comment.

Mari looked at me sadly, but I could tell it was bull shit. "But Hika…"

"Oh God, don't ever call me that. I always resented that nickname!" I grabbed Haruhi's arm roughly and began walking back to our class. "Come on, let's go."

Haruhi just remained aghast at how I defended her and that I was actually touching her. She smiled, maybe my feelings for her were turning around for the better.

As for Mari, she just watched us walk away from her. Usually a jealous girl would've been mad that I took off with Haruhi, but Mari just stood there, a smirk appearing on her lips. She began twirling her blonde hair.

"Playing hard to get I see." She licked her glossy lips hungrily. "I'll play your game and have you one day."

She looked at Haruhi and her smirk turned dark before she turned to go back to her class.


	8. Chapter 8

A month has passed by since having dinner at Haruhi's house, and since then our relationship has actually grown surprisingly. Were we friends? I still wasn't sure about that, but we didn't hate each other anymore. She even started eating lunch with me a few times a week, mostly on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. At first it was a bit uncomfortable, but as a few days passed I eventually warmed up to her eating with me.

It was Wednesday and I stood in my usual spot in the courtyard, patiently waiting for Haruhi. I leaned against the wall, tapping my foot impatiently. I looked at the time on my phone, she was five minutes late. I let out a low growl and put my phone back in my pocket.

"Whatever," I grumbled, acting as if I was a spoiled kid, "I don't need to see her anyways. It not like we're friends or anything."

I waited for a couple more minutes and when she still didn't show up, I huffed and turned to leave, but before I could even take one step I heard footsteps walk up behind me.

"Where are you going?"

My anger instantly vanished by hearing her voice and I turned back around to see Haruhi. I tried to fight off the smile that was itching my lips by glaring at her.

"You were late." I stated. "I wasn't going to wait for you like some puppy the whole lunch period."

Haruhi rolled her eyes. "Oh calm down, I just had to speak to Tamaki senpai for a bit."

My glare hardened as I heard Tamaki's name. For some reason just hearing that she was with him made me angry, as if there was a rage filled fire burning in my chest.

"What were you doing with him?" I hissed.

"Why do you care, unless," a small smirk appeared on her face, "you're jealous?"

A warmed blush appeared on my face as the word jealous left her mouth.

Jealous? I wasn't jealous, I wasn't even her friends. How could I be jealous? I just hated Tamaki, that's all. He probably only wanted to meet up so he could try and flirt with her like he did with every other girl. Just imagining him playing with her heart just made me so livid that I could punch the shit out of him...wait, why do I even care?

"Tsk, you wish." I grumbled as I faced away from her, the blush still on my cheeks. "It's not like we're friends anyway."

"Yeah, keep telling yourself that."

I just responded with another low growl, causing Haruhi to laugh. I looked back over to her and finally noticed that she was carrying two wrapped bentos.

I pointed to them. "Why did you bring two lunches?"

Haruhi smiled and held one out to me. "I remembered how much you loved the dinner I made you, and you always steal some food from my lunch, so I decided to make one for you as well."

I could feel my heart began to beat loudly in my chest and my blush darkened even more, but it seemed like she didn't notice. I took the bento from her, looking away from her.

"Thanks…" I grumbled under my breath.

"You're welcome."

We sat down and I unwrapped then opened up. As I snapped it open I could see all the food she prepared. She made shrimp tempura with some rice, vegetables, and some type of cookies. It was mostly the foods I would steal from her lunch, which she always complained about because I would mostly eat her lunch instead of the one I bought in the school cafeteria.

I picked up a tempura and ate it, closing my eyes as I leaned my head back on the wall I was leaning on as I let the flavor fill my mouth.

"So how has everything been lately at home? You haven't texted me in almost a week. So that must be a good sign."

After mom's outburst with the knife I decided to try to give Haruhi's offer a chance. So the next time mom abused me I immediately texted Haruhi and I don't know how she did it, but she actually made me calm down and feel a lot better. Way quicker then it would've if I didn't talk to her.

I shrugged my shoulders and turned my head to look over at her, still leaning on the wall.

"Nothing big," I replied, "just the regular of her yelling that I'm a disappointment and how she wished she only had Kaoru, or if she's really pissed, no sons at all."

"So just drunken rants then? No physical abuse?"

I nodded, looking back up and closing my eyes. "Yep, but it's only the middle of the week, so who knows what might happen."

"Don't say that."

"I'm just trying to be realistic."

Haruhi sighed, playing with her food in her bento with her fork. We ate for a bit in silence. The silence was no longer awkward. We didn't have to try to find a topic to think about, we just let the silence take over, which sometimes was good.

"So," Haruhi began, breaking the silence, "is your mom still making you fend for yourself?"

I looked back over at her, giving her a bored expression. "Yeah kinda, I still have to make my own meals and do my own laundry, but she started giving me money again. So I'm grateful for that."

"You know, you could've gotten a job. Like normal people who are having issues with money."

"I wasn't having issues. I still had a debit card that I used to buy items. So I didn't need a job."

"Yeah, God forbid that a spoiled rich brat gets a job to learn what us normal people have to deal with to keep food on the table."

I smirked at her. "You said it, not me."

Haruhi just rolled her eyes and looked back down at her bento. She pushed up her glasses that were way too big for her face. I looked her up and down. She stopped wearing the male uniform completely. She just usually wore her oversized sweaters and a uniform shirt underneath. She had her hair up in a messy bun, which actually didn't look half bad.

"Your glasses are ugly." I commented, causing her to look back over to me, her mouth open as she was about to take a bite of her food.

She glared at me. "Wow, thanks for the complement Hikaru. You're such a charmer."

"What happened to that uniform that the club members gave you?"

"Well, since I'm no longer in the Host Club I don't have to keep up my appearance."

"Why did you get kicked out?" I asked confused. "Doesn't Tamaki like, adore you?"

"It's a long story." Haruhi huffed, moving a piece of loose hair behind her ear. "Tamaki senpai had this whole drama with his family and he paid for the rest of my debt because his grandmother wanted me out of the club."

"Hmm, I remember Kaoru talking about that whole family situation, but that doesn't mean you had to let yourself go."

"You're making it seem like I gained thirty pounds or something."

I just rolled my eyes. "That's not what I meant, but take it as you like." I moved closer to her and grabbed her glasses with both of my hands. "I'm just saying you'll get more positive attention if you kept a decent appearance."

I slid her glasses off and as soon as I saw her face without them I immediately halted what I was doing. I tilted my head to the side a bit, studying her features. She had a small thin face that made her brown eyes stand out a lot. Her nose was small and had was also slightly pointed, it was almost cute. Her hair, even though it was messy it was starting to look a lot more stylish. But what stood out the most for some reason were her lips. They were plump and pink...almost kissable. Was she always this beautiful? I've seen her without her glasses and not in ratty clothing, but it never awestruck me like this before.

"Can I have my glasses back?" Haruhi asked, causing me to break out of my trance.

"You look gorgeous." I said impulsively.

Haruhi blinked in confusion. "...Huh?"

A dark red blush appeared on my face. Fuck, did I really just say that she was gorgeous?!

I cleared my throat awkwardly, looking away from her face. "What I meant was that you look really good without your glasses. You should try getting contacts."

Haruhi took her glasses from me and slipped them back on. "Well, I had contacts for awhile. I just have no reason to wear them anymore."

"Well, I think they'll make your life a lot easier." I said, a small smile on my face. "I've seen how you get annoyed with the glasses because they're so big. Just give them another chance."

Haruhi put her hand back on the frame of her glasses, feeling how big they actually were. She sighed and pushed them back up.

"Fine," she looked back over towards me, "I might give them another chance."

My smile widened, I didn't know why but something about her was different. I couldn't put my finger on it, but I liked it. Just then a slight breeze blew past us, blowing some of Haruhi's loose strands of hair. For some reason now, I couldn't help but notice how adorable she was, even with her big, unflattering old man glasses Just looking at her made my chest feel tight, as if it were hard for me to breath. I made a faint pained expression and put a hand on my chest, leaning back on the wall. "Fuck."

"What's wrong?" Haruhi asked innocently.

I coughed a bit to see if it would make me feel any better, but it was futile in helping anything.

"I don't know," I responded, "my chest just suddenly started to feel weird, and it's also hard to breath."

"Maybe you got heartburn. Sometimes certain foods do that."

"Yeah, but it's never felt like this before." I coughed one last time before shrugging my shoulders. "I can deal with it, it's not the worse feeling in the world.

"Are you sure, I'm pretty sure the nurse has some medicine tha-"

"I'm fine," I interrupted her as I faced back towards her, "I promise."

"Ok, if you're sure."

For the rest of the lunch period we just continued talking. I seemed to hang onto every word that she said as if it was the most interesting thing in the world to me, and at the moment it was. The feeling in my chest never going away, but it wasn't that bothersome anymore, it actually felt pretty good.

"You know, that wasn't half bad." I said as I closed the now empty bento she gave me.

"I'm just going to have to accept that you're never going to be nice to me."

I sniggered and smiled at her. "Took you long enough."

Even though Haruhi tried to be mad, she couldn't help but chuckle. As I saw her laugh, I could feel my heart began to softly pound in my chest. Then everything felt like it slowed down as she looked over at me and smiled. Another small gust of wind blew through her hair. Nothing seemed ugly about her anymore, not her hair, not her clothes, nothing. As I continued to stare at her, my heart began pounding even louder in my chest. My own smile fell and I quickly looked away from her again, putting a hand back on my chest. What was this weird feeling, and why was it making my heart act all crazy?

Haruhi's expression turned concerned when she saw that I was in pain again.

"Hey, are you sure that you're ok? You look like you're in a lot of pain."

"My heart, it's just acting...I don't know, weird. It just started pounding really hard all of a sudden."

"Are you sure you don't want me to take you to the nurse." Haruhi asked. "I really don't mind."

"I'm fine, really." I said, feeling my heart start to calm down a bit. "But if it gets any worse I'll promise to go."

Haruhi nodded, obviously still concerned about my health. I helped her clean up and wrapped up the bentos. As I handed her the bento she gave me back, our hands touched. Usually I would've instantly pulled away, but for some reason it didn't bother me this time. I forwarded my eyebrows in confusion, wondering why all of a sudden I didn't mind her touch. It actually felt quiet nice. But she must've thought my expression of confusion was a scowl because she pulled her hand away.

"Sorry," she apologized, "I keep on touching you. I have to stop doing that."

"No, it's alright." I responded without thinking, causing her to look at me with a puzzled look. Another small blush appeared on my face as I just realized what I said. I always got annoyed with her touching me before, but now all of a sudden I didn't care now. I cleared my throat before I continued. "It was by accident, right? So it doesn't really bother me."

She grew even more puzzled. "But the last time I accidently touched you, you literally dropped all the books on the floor in class that you were suppose to hand to me."

I shrugged my shoulders, trying my best to play this situation off as best as I could. "I don't know, it just didn't bother me this time."

Haruhi just continued to stare at me, then a small smile appeared back on her face, causing my chest to tighten again.

"You're warming up to me, aren't you?"

My blush grew even darker and I could feel my heart race again. What the fuck was going on with my body?!

I turned to look away from her, scowling. The blush clearly on my face.

"You wish." I grumbled.

"Well, by the blush on your face I think I hit a bulls eye." She smirked.

My blush grew even darker, if that was even possible, and I glared back over at her before giving her back her bento.

"Whatever." I growled before standing up. I looked at the time on my phone. "I'm going to class."

"Hey, wait for me." Haruhi called out as I began walking away.

I didn't want to stop, but for some reason my body just stopped on its own, letting her catch up.

"Thanks for waiting for me." She said as she caught up to me.

"Whatever." I growled again, the warm blush still on my cheeks as we walked back to class together.

* * *

"So you think you're not feeling well?" Kaoru asked through Skype.

After my black eye was barely noticeable anymore I decided to Skype Kaoru again. I still had the cut on my cheek though and he asked about that, so I just told him someone cut me with their ring when they punched me. He scolded me for getting into another fight, where I couldn't help but laugh. He then soon joined along. It's been about three weeks since then and mom hasn't really hurt me that bad for me not to talk to him.

"Yeah," I responded to his question, "my heart's been acting weird all day since lunch."

"Well, maybe you should stop using those." Kaoru suggested as he pointed to the cigarette in my hand. "Those fucking things do shit to your heart."

I was puffing on a cigarette as I sat on my bed, my ashtray in between my crossed legs. I just smirked at him and blew smoke at the camera. Kaoru tried his hardest not to look amused, but I could see the smile tugging on his lips.

"I'm serious Hikaru. Haven't you seen those commercials. I don't want you to end up with a hole in your throat."

"Those people smoke like six packs a day. I usually just smoke about one or two cigarettes a day, four at most. I cut down a bit since I first started."

"But can you at least promise that you'll try and stop. For your own health."

I rolled my eyes but smiled at him, knowing that he was only worrying because he cared. "Fine, I'll try and quit." I took another drag of my cigarette, smirking. "Tomorrow."

Kaoru rolled his eyes, but smiled. "I don't know what I'm going to do with you." I shrugged my shoulders, keeping the smirk on my face. "Anyways," Kaoru said as he put his head in his hand, laying down on the hotel bed, "back to your heart. What has it been doing to make you think that you're sick?"

"Well," I started, burning out my cigarette. "My chest had been tight, making it kinda hard to breath, and my heart's been pounding a lot lately."

Kaoru forwarded his eyebrows, as if he was thinking. "Has your face been flushed as well?"

"Yeah, it has. A lot actually." I answered.

"And you said this started happening during lunch with Haruhi today, right?"

"It started during lunch and continued throughout the day until I got home, but it flared up a lot during the tutoring session today."

Kaoru just watched me silently, a hand covering his mouth. He then looked like he was glaring at me by the way his eyebrows were forwarded, making creases on his forehead.

"Kaoru?" I questioned, causing his eyes to look up at mine. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah," he replied muffled, his hand still over his mouth, "I'm just thinking." He then removed his hand from his mouth, revealing a smirk. "I think I might know what's up with your heart Hikaru."

"What is it?"

He laid his chin on his knuckles, still smirking at me. "You're in love with Haruhi, aren't you?"

A deep red blush filled my face for what felt like the umpteeth time today.

"In-In love?! You can't be fucking serious?!"

Kaoru sniggered, his smirk growing on his face. "From the way that you're freaking out and the dark red blush on your face, you are definitely in love with her."

"You're really stretching it Kaoru." I hissed, my blush still clearly on my face. "Come on, we're not even friends."

Kaoru rolled his eyes, I could tell he was starting to get annoyed. "Oh stop denying it, having a crush isn't something to be ashamed of. I'll even admit that I had a small crush on her last year."

I blinked a bit, shocked at what he said. "Wait, really?" Kaoru nodded and I felt a small feeling of rage burn in my chest. I glared at him. "So you have a crush on her?"

" _Had_ a crush on her." He corrected, using his fingers to quote the word _had_. "Don't worry, my feelings for her disappeared a long time ago last year after I knew that she would never love me that way and it would be better to just be friends." Kaoru's smirk returned to his face. "You don't have to be jealous."

"I don't have a crush on her!" I barked.

"Fine, let's prove it then." Kaoru pulled out his phone and began typing then instantly found an article. "Signs that you're in love. One, your chest hurts when you think of the person." He looked up at me. "Your chest has been hurting a lot lately."

"There could be a lot of other reasons why my chest is hurting."

Kaoru gave me a look, as if to say, _are you serious?_ Before looking back at his phone.

"Two, if the person is happy then you're happy." He looked back up at me. "So…"

"Well...yeah kinda, but happiness is contagious. Especially if it's someone you get along with."

"Or someone you love."

I glared at him again. "I'm not fucking in love with her!" I hissed through my teeth.

"We'll see about that." Kaoru said as he looked back at his phone. "Three, when you're around the person you get a weird feeling in your stomach." I opened my mouth to reply to the sign, but Kaoru continued to read the article, not letting me talk. "Four, you distinguish their voice better than other people's. Five, you get jealous when this person is around others. Six, you can't imagine living your life without them-"

"Ok I get it!" I growled, causing Kaoru to look up from his phone.

"So let's see how many symptoms you have. I know you have number five because you were jealous when I said I had a crush on Haruhi last year, and you also have symptoms one, two, three, four, and six."

I let out a frustrated sigh before running a hand through my hair. "Whatever, believe what you want to believe." I leaned back on my arms that were supporting me. "I know how to actually feel and that's all that matters."

"Hikaru," Kaoru huffed, clearly irritated. "I love you, I really do, but you're really fucking stupid."

I hardened my glare at him. "Wow, thanks for that. It really brings up my self-esteem."

"You know what? I'll just drop it." Kaoru said. "But when you finally figure out that you love her, I'm going to tell you I told you so."

"Yeah, not going to happen."

"We'll see."

For the rest of our Skype call we just talked about how Kaoru's day was in New York. He saw Aladdin on Broadway and got backstage access to meet the cast. Then for dinner they went to a five star restaurant, but I didn't hear when he said the name of it was. I tried to pay attention as he talked, but every word he said was muffled, as if he had a cloth over his mouth. I just couldn't stop thinking about what he said earlier, about me liking Haruhi. It could be true right? Even though I had most of the symptoms, it didn't mean I was in love with her.

Kaoru stopped talking when he noticed he was only having a one sided conversation. He saw the far off look in my eye as I stared off somewhere.

"Hikaru?"

"Hmm." I responded, not looking at him.

"Did you hear anything I said?"

"Yeah."

"So what did you think of the picture I got with the cast members?"

"That's cool."

Kaoru glared at me, realizing that I in fact wasn't paying attention.

"So I had this huge fucking orgy with all the girls on the trip last night and they might all get pregnant because we didn't use any protection." He lied.

"That must've been fun."

His glare hardened. "Yep, you're definitely not paying attention."

He picked up his phone and began searching something up. He then placed the speaker of his phone to the microphone of the computer and played an ear piercing sound. I hissed as the sharp sound hit my ears and I used my hands to cover them. As Kaoru turned it off I glared at him.

"What the fuck was that for?!" I growled.

"You weren't paying attention to me." Kaoru answered nonchalantly.

"I was paying attention."

"Really, then what was the last thing I told you?"

I sweat dropped, not really remembering what he said after the restaurant. Kaoru raised an eyebrow when he saw I wasn't answering.

"You don't know, do you?"

I sighed and gave him an apologetic look. "I'm sorry, I just have a lot on my mind right now."

"I get it." Kaoru said. "I know you won't admit it but I know you're thinking about what I said about Haruhi." He looked at the time on his computer. "It's getting late so I'm going to let you go." He looked back up at me. "Just give it some thought, about what I said." I gave him a nod and he smiled. "Talk to you tomorrow."

"Yeah...talk to you later."

Kaoru signed off and I turned my computer before closing it. I moved it and my ashtray to my nightstand before turning off the light. I got under my covers and flipped on my side. I hugged my covers around my body, the warmth of my blanket hitting my bare chest. I sighed as I looked out at the night sky through my blinds, thoughts about Haruhi consuming my brain.

Was I really in love with her? All the symptoms were there were there, but that has to mean something else. I groaned and flipped onto my back, staring at the ceiling for a few seconds before closing my eyes, going through the symptoms in my head one last time.

 _One, your chest hurts when you think of the person. Check._

 _Two, if the person is happy then you're happy. Check._

 _Three, when you're around the person you get a weird feeling in your stomach. Check._

 _Four, you distinguish their voice better than other people's. Check._

 _Five, you get jealous when this person is around others. Triple check._

 _Six, you can't imagine living your life without them. Check._

I sat up, letting the blanket fall to my waist. I put my head in my hands, covering my eyes as I sighed in and out. I then looked over at the clock, seeing that it was only midnight. It was going to be a long night.

* * *

The next morning slowly came. I covered my mouth as I yawned, walking to my homeroom class. I only got about two hours of sleep last night because of the thoughts of Haruhi that kept me up, but I wasn't going to let that try and bother me.

I entered the classroom and was surprised to see that Haruhi wasn't there. She usually was the first one in the classroom, but today I was here before her, which was a bit unusual. I just shrugged and went over to my desk, but as I put my bag on my desk.

"Hey Hikaru."

My heart began racing in my chest and a red blush tinted my cheek. I whipped around to look over at her. What immediately caught my eye was that she wasn't wearing her glasses.

"You're glasses, where are they?" I asked.

She smiled at me, making my heart pound even more. "I thought a lot about what you said yesterday about them and how troublesome they were because of how big they were. So I found my old contacts and put them in. That's why I was a bit late, I had to search for them." Her smile fell when she noticed the red tint on my cheeks. "Hey, are you alright? You're all red."

"I-I…"

She placed a hand on my face, causing my heart to pound even harder, feeling like it was about to burst out of my chest, and my blush darkened to where my cheeks were a dark scarlet color.

"You're really warm. I think you have a fever."

"I'm-I'm fine!" I reassured as I took her hand off of me. "It's nothing at all!"

"But you're really warm and your face is all red."

"I'm hot." I practically screamed. "M-My god, I have to use the bathroom!"

Before she could say anything else I quickly ran out of the room, leaving a dumbfounded Haruhi behind.

After I exited the classroom I leaned on the wall next to the door and put a hand on my chest. My heart felt like it was going to burst at any moment. As my heart calmed down a bit I peeked back into the classroom, seeing Haruhi sitting in her seat.

Oh no, I can't...I can't go back in! It's harder to re-enter a situation once you get out!

I then suddenly felt someone lightly tap my arm and out of instinct I swung my arm back, almost hitting the person. I looked at who touched me and saw a couple of girls looking at me in concern, with slight fright from me almost hitting one of them.

"Hikaru, are you alright?" The girl I almost hit asked. "You're acting strange."

I cleared my throat and looked away from her, putting my hands in my pockets.

"I'm fine." I grumbled as I faced back towards the classroom, looking at Haruhi.

"Are you sure?"

I took a deep breath to calm myself down before answering. "Yeah, I'm positive."

I then walked back into the classroom, trying my best to keep my composure for the rest of the day.

* * *

The school day ended and Haruhi and I were half way through our tutoring session. I was doodling in my notebook as Haruhi finished up her math problems. When she finished the last problem she closed her book and looked over at me, seeing that I was distracted.

"Hikaru, are you sure you're fine? You've been out of it all day."

I looked up at her, pausing my doodling. I felt a lump in my throat that was forbidding me to speak. I looked into her brown eyes, feeling my chest tighten, which caused me to look away.

"I'm fine." I said, finally finding my voice. "I just have a lot on my mind."

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"I don't think this is something I can talk to you about, sorry."

"Alright, but I'm here if you need me."

I didn't respond to her. I just looked at her for a couple seconds before looking away again.

"Well, if you're feeling fine, let's switch to history." I groaned as Haruhi pulled out her history book. "Oh shut up." Haruhi sniggered. "I know that you hate history, but we have to get the assignment done," she opened the book to the lesson we were on, "and today is an interesting lesson. We're learning about the lovers Cleopatra and Mark Antony." She pointed to the question in the first paragraph. "It asks if you ever been in love."

Haruhi looked up into my eyes. It felt like we were the only two in the room. My heart began pounding again as I stared in her eyes. Her beautiful brown eyes, that had a hint of green in them. The tight feeling in my chest suddenly turned all warm and fuzzy, it actually felt...really nice. As if I was on a high that I never wanted to stop.

"So, have you?" She asked again.

I stared at her for a bit longer before looking back at my notebook, seeing the doodles of hearts that I drew as if I was a love struck school girl. Then my eyes traveled to the the big heart in the middle of the page that had _H+H_ in the center of it. A warm loving smile appeared on my face and I looked back up at her, staring into her eyes. The warm feeling in my chest growing.

"Yes, I have loved someone before."

Haruhi smiled at my answer, still staring into my eyes.

"And so have I."


	9. Chapter 9

It was later that Thursday night. I was lying on my bed, staring up at the ceiling as I waited for Kaoru's call, thinking about the day and finally coming to realization. I didn't really want to tell Kaoru because he would tease me by saying he told me so and blah, blah, blah...but if I did tell him maybe he could give some tips about what she likes and also how to properly confess.

I've never been in love before. I've had girlfriends sure, but I could've cared less about them. I just wanted to see what all the hype was about for being in a relationship, but after a couple days of not feeling a spark or anything I broke up with them, usually leaving them in tears as I walked away.

But I've never confessed before, usually the girls would confess to me and if I thought they were pretty enough I might have given them a chance, but it was rare. Only when I felt a bit jealous seeing all the happy couples at school, but I stopped caring soon after.

If this was real love felt like though, it wasn't that bothersome. It actually felt really nice, but also made me stressed. What if she didn't love me back? She did look into my eyes and smiled when she told me she was in love. So she must feel the same...right?

I groaned and put my arm over my eyes as I felt a stress induced headache start to form. As I slowly began to drift off, Kaoru's incoming Skype call woke me up. I sat up and grabbed my laptop, answering his call.

"Hey." He greeted happily.

"Hi." I greeted back, trying my best to manage a smile.

Kaoru's smile immediately faltered when he noticed mine. "What's wrong?"

"What do you mean?" I asked, pretending to be clueless.

Kaoru frowned. He didn't buy my clueless act. I knew he would see through it, but I just wanted to try and avoid talking about Haruhi as long as possible. I could try and lie like I have been doing with the topic of mom, but...maybe he really could help me through this.

"Hikaru," Kaoru said, drawing my attention back to him, "you know that I won't buy that shitty 'I'm fine act'. Tell me what's really going on."

I sighed, running my hair through my tangled hair before propping my chin in my hand. "Promise me you won't make fun of me or I won't tell you."

Kaoru bit his lip, his eyebrows knitted together in thought. "Well, I'll try but I can't promise anything."

I narrowed my eyes at him, but then just huffed. I knew that if I didn't tell him he would keep pestering me about it, which I wasn't really in the mood for.

"So..? What's going on with you?" Kaoru asked.

I looked down at my hands, rubbing them together, like I always did when I was nervous. "I've been thinking all last night about what you said." I looked back at him, he looked a bit confused about what I was talking about. "About Haruhi…"

Kaoru's expression remained the same for a couple seconds, then changed to shocked before a small smirk started tugging her lips.

"So, what is it? Did you finally figure out that I was right about you liking Haruhi?"

A small blush crept on my face as I looked away from him grumbling. "Don't get a big head, alright."

"I knew it!" He quietly cheered so he wouldn't disturb the other guests at the hotel. "I knew that you were fucking in love with her!"

"You said you wouldn't make fun of me!" I hissed.

"I said that I would try and I'm not making fun of you. I'm just happy that you finally realized your feelings."

I rolled my eyes, the blush on my cheeks darkening. "Whatever," I grumbled, "I just need you advice for something."

"Sure, what would you like advice for?"

I looked down at my hands, fiddling with my blanket. "I...uh...I'm thinking about confessing to Haruhi."

As soon as those words left my mouth Kaoru's smile immediately fell. I first thought it was just shock and he would happy about it, but his expression turned worried.

"Hikaru, I don't think that's a good idea."

"Why not?" I asked, generally confused.

"Well, uh, it's just that Haruhi isn't really the relationship type, you know."

"Really? I don't think so. When we were going our tutoring session she said she was in love."

"Uh...well maybe she was talking about her past. Maybe she had a crush on someone in middle school."

"But she looked into my eyes when she said it. That has to mean something."

"Uh…"

I frowned at him. "Why are you all of a sudden trying to get me not to confess to her? Yesterday you kept trying to get me to realize I was in love with her and when I finally do and want to confess you're trying to stop me...unless," I glared at him, "you're still not over Haruhi and are trying to me not to confess to her so you can have her."

"Hikaru, that's not it."

"Then what's the reason then?"

Kaoru sighed sadly before looking back at me with a doleful expression. "Hikaru, I'm really happy that you finally realized your crush on Haruhi because that means you're finally opening up to people and expanding your world, but the issue with Haruhi is that her and Tam-"

Suddenly our Skype call closed, cutting Kaoru off. Then a notification popped up saying that the signal was lost. I cocked an eyebrow and checked my internet. I had full bars so the internet at Kaoru's hotel must have gone down. I just shrugged my shoulders and closed out of Skype.

I bit my lip as a thought crossed my mind. I knew Kaoru tried warning me about confessing to Haruhi, but the way she looked at me in the library today, when she said that she's been in love. That had to mean something, right?"

I reached down into my bag and grabbed a notebook and a pencil. I then placed my laptop in my lap, opening the internet browser and going onto Google. I tapped a key lightly in thought, thinking about what to search up that could help plan a date if she accepted my confession.

Haruhi was a commoner, so I knew she wouldn't like doing real expensive activities. I've never really tried any commoner things, so maybe I could do something like that with her for a first date.

I typed out 'First date ideas' and clicked search, clicking on the first tab I saw. I scrolled down a few suggestions, seeing a couple that caught my interest.

"Go to a bookstore? Is that really a first date option?" I questioned, tapping my pencil in my notebook. "But...maybe we could stop in there for a bit. She really does like reading a lot more than me, so it could be a good idea."

I wrote down the bookstore into my notes before looking at the other suggestions. After I got through all the activities I started to plan out the date, making lines and arrows connecting activities so I had a schedule of how the will go.

"Ok," I said as I began to go over the completed schedule. "So if she accepts my confession tomorrow on Saturday I'm going to pick her up at her apartment around noon, then we'll head over to the commoner shopping center near her house. We'll first go to the bookstore and look around, and if she wants any books I'll buy her some. Then we'll go to the food stands around there and try sampling some of the foods there, because I know how much a glutton she is." I chuckled the last part before continuing through the schedule.

"Then after that we'll walk around and window shop, and if there are other activities there do some of those, as well as try to get to know each other better. We'll grab dinner and maybe some ice cream or frozen yogurt for dessert before I take her home." I smiled at the plan. "This has to be a great date for a commoner, right? I closed my notebook and let out a nervous breath. "God, I really hope so."

I turned off my laptop and put it on my nightstand before putting my notebook back in my bag. I then turned the light off and got under my covers, staring up at the ceiling.

"Hopefully everything goes well tomorrow." I whispered before drifting off to sleep.

* * *

The next morning quickly came. I turned into the parking lot and parked my car. I turned off the ignition and stared at my reflection in the rear view mirror.

"Ok, I can do this." I told myself, trying to get my nervous down. "I will try to be on my best behavior throughout the whole day and after our tutoring session I'll confess to her." I pulled out the folded up date plan from the inside pocket of my jacket and unfolded it, reviewing the plan. "God, I really fucking hope this works out."

I took a deep breath before folding the plan backup and putting it back in my jacket pocket. I then grabbed my bag that was in the passenger seat before exiting my car and locking it as I made my way towards the school. As I made my way to my homeroom class I went back over the plan for today in my head to make sure my nerves didn't make me forget anything. I really wanted this day to go as perfect as possible so my confession would go well.

When I made it to class I stopped at the door, looking over at Haruhi who was already in her seat. My grip around the handle of my bag tightened as my nerves grew tremendously as I looked at her. I could actually feel my body began to tremble. No one has ever made me tremble before besides my mom, but that was different. Around my mom I was petrified, fearing what she was going to do to me. While here, looking at Haruhi I was nervous, but I was also excited. Yeah, I did feel like I could puke at any moment, but I also felt like I had the energy to run a marathon.

I took another deep breath, calming down my rapid heartbeat and made my way over to my seat. As I placed my bag on my desk, Haruhi looked over at me and smiled.

"Good morning Hikaru." She greeted warmly.

I smiled back at her as I greeted her back. "Good morning."

Her smile slightly grew when she saw that I was in a chipper mood. Seeing her smile brought this weird, yet pleasurable feeling in my gut that didn't make me feel sick anymore. She was just the normal Haruhi I knew, and she obviously liked me, right?

I could do this.

* * *

Lunch quickly came and students began leaving the classroom as soon as the bell rang. I looked over at Haruhi and say her take out her lunch box. A small smirk appeared on my face. It was time for the first part of my plan to get into motion.

Haruhi stood up and grabbed her lunch, she faced towards me. "Are you ready to go?"

"Almost," I said as I got up as well. I walked over to her, "but first we need to leave this."

I grabbed Haruhi's lunch and placed it on her desk. She forwarded her eyebrows in confusion.

"Why? That's my lunch."

"Not for today." I grabbed my wallet from my pocket. "I'm buying you lunch from the dining hall. I'm pretty sure you've never tried it before."

"Well no, not really. I've tried a bite or two from the club members' lunches but that's it." Her eyes then widened when she realized everything I said. "Wait a minute. You said that you're buying me lunch?"

"Yep, that's what I said."

She just blinked. "Who are you and what have you done to Hikaru?"

I rolled my eyes. "Oh shut up. I can be nice if I want to."

"Yeah, but you're never nice to me."

"Well I'm trying something different." I raised an eyebrow at her. "Do you have a problem with that?"

"No, no I don't. It's just...weird, that's all."

"I want to pay you back for the lunch on Wednesday that you made me."

"But I already have a lunch, and the lunches here are so expensive."

"I think that you keep on forgetting that I'm rich." I chuckled softly. "It's not going to hurt me. Also it's the same price as if Kaoru were here, so it's normal."

"But still…"

"I'm not taking no for an answer."

I grabbed her hand and began leading her towards the dining hall, trying my best to not let her notice the faint blush on my face as our hands touched. Haruhi stopped protesting, which must've been a good sign.

We made it to the dining hall and I lead her over to the line. I smiled at her.

"Pick whatever you want."

Haruhi looked over the menu board. There were so many choices for her to choose from that she couldn't decide. Lamb, filet mignon,, lobster. Just so many.

"Uh, what are you having?" She asked me.

"Lunch A. It's the only food on the menu that I like. It's filet mignon and some other stuff, but it's good."

"Wow, very specific." She grumbled. "But I guess I'll take your word for it and try it."

When it was our turn up I walked over to the chief and ordered our meals then paying for them. Haruhi grew horrified at the price of our meals which caused me to laugh. She was adorable. We grabbed our trays and headed towards an empty table.

"We're not eating in our usual spot?" Haruhi asked as I sat down.

"By the time we get all the way there we wouldn't have enough time to eat everything. Also," My smile grew as she sat down across from me, "it's nice to have a change of scenery once in a while."

Haruhi just stared at me puzzled. "Hikaru, are you sure that you've been feeling well. You've been acting weird since Wednesday."

"Can't I just be nice and treat a friend to a nice lunch?"

Haruhi's expression turned surprised. My smile fell by her sudden change of facial expression. I cocked an eyebrow at her.

"What's up with you?"

She just blinked a bit, as if she was processing something in her brain. "I'm sorry, but," she looked back up at me, meeting my eyes, "did you just say that I was your...friend?"

 _Hopefully not for much longer._

"Yeah, uh...are you ok with that?"

"Yes, yes I am, I'm just surprised me." She said. "I mean Wednesday you told me that we weren't friends, but two days later now you're saying that we are. It just shocked me, that's all."

I hummed a chuckle. "Well, I'll admit that I've been a real dick to you since we met, but I want to change that." I smiled at her lovingly. "I don't know what it is about you, but you just have something about you that makes me like and trust you. Which never happens with anyone else I know besides Kaoru."

Haruhi was first taken aback by what I said, but then her beautiful smile that made my heart race crept on her face.

"I'm glad that I was able to make you feel that you can trust me. I think of you as a friend as well."

My smile grew, it looked like my plan was going well so far. Hopefully everything else goes this well."

Haruhi looked at her lunch and picked up her fork. She didn't know where to dig in first. There was filet mignon that was cut into perfect slices and covered in a homemade sauce, a small side of fresh vegetables that were picked from the garden this morning, a mini baguette that was golden brown, and a small garden salad on the side.

She just looked at the food in awe before grabbing her knife and cut into the filet mignon. She slipped her fork into her mouth and in almost an instant her eyes lit up as is just say the gates of heaven.

I chuckled at her reaction. "I take it that you like it."

"It's...It's amazing." She said before taking another bite. "You guys eat this kind of stuff every day?"

I shrugged my shoulders. "We use to, but now we only eat like this for lunch. So we can save money."

"But you said that you were rich. Why would you need to save money?"

"Well yeah, we're fucking loaded, but since my dad isn't in the picture anymore we don't make as much money. So my mom wants us to cut down on spending. That's one of the main reasons we moved houses. The other reason is because...too many reminders, you know?"

Haruhi nodded, completely understanding what I was talking about. It must've been hard being surrounded by all those memories of her mother. I know it would still be hard for me if I still lived at my old manor.

For the rest of the lunch period we just ate and talked about others things. I learned a couple new things about her. Like how her favorite food is otoro and she's had it once at a Host Club event. She also really liked strawberries, which made me sweat drop because all she was talking about was food. I wanted to learn more about her, not her taste in food.

I leaned my head in my hand and smiled at her. "Tell me what your biggest fear is."

Haruhi blinked, a bit confused by the sudden change of topic. "Why do you suddenly want to know?"

"I want to get to know you better. That's what friends do, right?"

"Well yeah, but you don't usually talk about your fears with friends."

"I know people who do." My smile turned mischievous. "Come on, it can't that embarrassing."

"It's not that I'm embarrassed…"

"Then why won't you tell me?"

"Because it's personal, that's why."

I huffed, starting to get slightly irritated by her not telling me. I looked down at my lunch that was only half eaten and then at hers, which was empty. A smirk spread across my lips as an idea popped into my brain.

"Let's make a deal." I said, grabbing her full attention. "If I give you the rest of my lunch, you tell me your biggest fear. I'm done with it anyways."

Haruhi bit her lip, actually considering the deal. She was such a glutton that it actually cute. She stared down at my food quietly for a couple more seconds before looking back up at me.

"Fine," She finally agreed. My smirk remained plastered on my face as I pushed my tray towards her. She looked at the food, biting her lip as she looked back up at me again. "Don't judge me, alright?"

"I wouldn't even dare to do anything like that."

Haruhi glared at my sarcastic tone but then huffed. "Mmmunder." She grumbled, barely audible.

"What?"

"Thunder." She said louder, but only so I could hear her.

I blinked. "Thunder, that's it?"

"You said you weren't going to judge me."

"I'm not judging you. Just from knowing you I wouldn't think you wouldn't even imagine that." I said. "I would've thought either heights, or like bugs. I don't know."

"Well I'm not the biggest fan of those two things, but thunder it makes me so petrified that I can't even move."

"You know it's not going to hurt you, right?"

"I know," she sighed, "it's just always scared me since I was little, and when it's accompanied with lightning just makes everything worse."

My expression fell as I saw her poking at her food uncomfortably, clearly embarrassed. Fuck, she must've thought that I was making fun of her. I shouldn't have brought up the topic. I just wanted to get to know her better…

"How do you deal with it?" I asked.

She looked up at me. "I have earplugs that Tamaki senpai gave me a while back but they only just barely help."

I bit my lip as I stared at her. I wouldn't have thought that she could've been afraid of something so harmless, but I guess we all have surprising fears. I just wish I could do something to help her...actually, maybe I could.

"I think I just got the thing that can help." I reached into my jacket pocket and pulled out some earbuds. I handed them over to her. "Just plug these into your phone or laptop if you got one and when a storm hits the music will distract you."

She looked at the earbuds before looking back up at me. "But these are yours. Won't you want them to listen to your own music?"

"I have another pair at home." I smiled and winked at her. "Don't worry about it."

She smiled back at me. "Thank you Hikaru, this really means a lot." She put them in her sweater pocket. "I'm really liking this new Hikaru, the real one. Not the cold, heartless one. Hopefully he sticks around."

My smile turned back to lovingly as I leaned my head in my hand. I could feel my body tingle all over from excitement. The plan was going way better than I expected.

"Yeah, I hope so too."

* * *

The school day finally ended and we were almost done with our tutoring session. I could feel the nerves finally start to kick in. In less than five minutes I was going to confess to Haruhi and ask her out! Was it really the right time? The whole day was perfect, but what if it was still too early. I bit the end of my pen as I stressed over the whole confession, looking down at a homework sheet so it looked like I was trying to do it.

Haruhi looked over at my work and saw I still haven't answered a single question in the past ten minutes.

"Are you having trouble Hikaru?" She asked, breaking me out of my reverie.

I looked up at her, taking the pen out of my mouth. "Huh?"

"You haven't answered any of the questions. I wanted to know if you were having any trouble so I could help you."

"Uh, yeah." I lied. "I'm not really understanding this math lesson."

I actually did understand the lesson pretty well, but I just really wanted her to move closer to me like she always did when she helped me. She moved her chair so she was sitting next to me, really close. Our arms and legs brushing against each other as she tried to explain the lesson to me, but I wasn't even paying attention. I was too busy watching her. As she talked all I heard was mumbles, but I couldn't stop staring at her lips. They looked so soft and pink that I just wanted to gently grab her chin and pull her into a kiss.

Just the thought of kissing her made me bite my lip and start to get restless in my chair. God what was she fucking doing to me? No one has ever made me feel this way before. My eyes trailed down to her body, even though she wore baggy clothes I could still see the slight curve of her body. I couldn't understand how she passed as a guy for so long. Just looking at her body now, past the opening the loose collar of her sweater and saw how the male uniform shirt hugging her breasts. She was clearly a woman.

I wasn't really that perverted type, but I would steal a couple glances at attractive girls, but I never felt anything. With Haruhi though, it was different. She might've not been as busty or curvy as the other girls at school, but her body was the only one that I was attracted to.

"Hikaru?" Haruhi called my name, causing my eyes to travel from her body back to her eyes.

We just stared at each other in silence, staring into each other's eyes. We were so close to each other that our noses were almost touching. "Do you...understand it?" She finally asked.

I smiled at her lovingly. "Yeah, I do."

I could feel my heart pounding in my chest as we remained in the position that we were in. I had to use all my willpower not to just lean in and kiss her right then. Now was the time. I couldn't hold it back anymore. I had to confess to her now.

"Haruhi," I breathed, "I have to tell you something."

"What is it?"

This was it. There was no going back now. I took a small breath in and out, preparing myself, not taking my eyes off of hers.

"Haruhi I-"

"Haruhi!"

Fuck! Of course he has to ruin everything. Haruhi turned away from me and faced them.

"Hey Tamaki senpai."

I glared over at him as he made his way over to our table.

"What the fuck do you want?!" I hissed. "We're kind of busy here!"

Tamaki glared back at me. "Your tutoring session ends at 4:30, its a couple minutes past that. I'm here to pick up Haruhi."

I hardened my glare at him but he just ignored it as he walked over to Haruhi. Then what he did after made my heart drop. My glare fell and was immediately replaced with a horrified expression as he kissed her temple and asked.

"Are you ready for our date?"

Haruhi smiled warmly at him...similar to the way I was smiling at her throughout the day. "Yeah, let me just pack everything up first."

I just sat there horrified, literally feeling my heart crumble into dust as I watched them, Tamaki giving her a quick peck on the lips before she got up and began packing up.

They were dating...they were fucking dating...

* * *

 **Hey guys I hoped you enjoyed that chapter. I also hope that you don't mind that I changed the summary a bit and the genre. At first this was going to be a horror story but I just kept getting more and more ideas that it just didn't seem so scary, but don't worry hopefully in future chapter I still have you hanging on the edge of your seats.**

 **I hope you guys enjoying the story so far, please Favorite, Follow & Review. Until next time.-HH1957 **


	10. Chapter 10

I continued to stare at them, my chest tightening as I watch Haruhi talk to Tamaki as she packed up.

"You guys are...dating?" I finally choked out. "For how long?"

They both halted their conversation and looked over at me. They noticed the surprised expression on my face, but I was lucky enough that they didn't notice the sadness in my eyes.

"For about a couple months." Haruhi answered. "We started officially dating over the summer."

I just sat there quietly, trying to process all this. They were dating before Haruhi and I began our tutoring session, but when I went over to visit the host club with her it seemed like she was highly annoyed of him and wouldn't date him if he was the last person on earth...but that wasn't true.

Haruhi zipped up her bag and smiled at Tamaki. "Alright, I'm ready."

Tamaki smiled back at her brightly. "Great, let's get going. A car is waiting for us outside."

I just remained in my seat as I leaned my head sadly in my hand, fiddling with my pencil in my other hand. As soon as they began to leave Haruhi stopped.

"Oh hold on." She turned to me with a smile. "Hikaru, what were you going to ask me?"

I looked up at her as I stopped fiddling with my pencil. "Hmm?"

"You were going to ask me something before Tamaki senpai came over. What was it?"

I looked away from her. "It's nothing."

Haruhi's expression turned confused as I began packing up. "Are you sure. It sounded important."

"Like I said," I zipped up my bag, "it's nothing."

"Hikaru-"

"Just fucking drop it okay!" I snapped, catching Haruhi off guard. "It wasn't important so stop pestering me about it!"

"Hey!" Tamaki growled. "Don't you dare speak to Haruhi that way!"

I just glared at Tamaki in response. I would've retaliated back, but all I just wanted to do was go home. I grabbed my bag and began storming towards the exit.

"Enjoy your fucking date!" I hissed as I stormed passed them.

"Hikaru?!" Haruhi called out as she tried to catch up with me. "Wait!" She grabbed my arm, causing me to stop but I didn't even bother looking at her. I hated that I still loved her touch, but I couldn't help it. It made my chest hurt.

"Really Hikaru, what's wrong? Please tell me."

I just looked over my shoulder with morose eyes. I didn't want to hurt her. I loved her, but I just couldn't stay here any longer. I just wanted to get away from them as fast as I could.

I looked away from her, my bangs hiding my eyes. "Don't fucking touch me…" I grumbled sadly, causing her to slowly release my arm.

Haruhi just watched sadly as I left the library. I hated myself for treated her like that. I just wanted to fucking hit myself for doing that to her...and seeing her face after I yelled at her...it churned my gut.

I finally made it to my car and got in, throwing my bag to the passenger seat before turning the ignition on, but instead of driving away I just sat there. All the emotions of what just happened finally start to become to powerful for me to hold back anymore. I grinded my teeth as I clenched my steering wheel, turning my knuckles white.

"Fuck!" I screamed, hitting the steering wheel multiple times as I continued to scream. "Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!"

I laid my head down on it, feeling the tears that I've been holding back finally peek through and began trailing down my face. Is this what rejection felt like? I know she didn't technically reject me, but I had a feeling this was a very similar feeling to it. I was starting to pitty all the girls I harshly rejected now. I didn't know it felt so painful. It felt like it was even more painful than anything mom has ever done to me. Even when she stabbed me last year…

My phone began vibrating multiple times in my pocket. I wiped the tears from my eyes as I pulled out my phone, seeing loads of text messages and missed calls from Kaoru filling up my lock screen.

 _Hikaru! The internet shut off at the hotel! Please just take my word for it and don't confess!_

 _Hikaru please respond to me! I don't want you to get hurt!_

 _Fucking answer me! Damn it Hikaru please!_

 _She's dating Tamaki! Please don't confess I don't want you to be hurt!_

I just scrolled through the rest of the messages, not bothering to read them or listening to the voicemails he left. He must've sent all these when our Skype call suddenly ended. The internet must've just gotten back up. I really wanted to call him right now and just let out everything, but I knew he was probably busy so there was no worth trying.

I leaned my head on the head rest. I really wish he was home right now. I just needed someone right now...but a big portion of me was glad that Kaoru was still in New York. So he wouldn't have to deal with all the problems happening at home.

I wiped the remainder of my tears with my jacket sleeve before putting the car in drive and began driving home.

* * *

I pulled up to my house and parked. I sighed and turned off the ignition before laying my head on the headset. I could still hear the vibrations of my phone in the cup holder as Kaoru's messages and calls were still coming through. I picked up my phone when it finally stopped vibrating and saw that I had over 200 messages and 100 missed calls and voicemails. I just scrolled through them all, scanning the text messages and not bothering to listen to the voicemails.

I cleared all the messages from my lock screen and stared at my lock screen photo. My heart began to hurt again. It used to just be a photo of Kaoru and me on our family vacation to Hawaii a couple months ago on the beach. We were both sitting on towels while Kaoru took the photo, smiling big while I just gave a half smile, but now I added another photo to it. I made a collage with the Hawaii photo and a photo of Haruhi and me.

A girl in our class wanted to take a photo of us for the yearbook and snapped one of us during lunch. Haruhi smiled sweetly sitting close to me as I glared at the camera. When the girl showed us the photo I actually like it. So after school I caught up with her and asked her to send it to me.

I felt like I need to change my lock screen back to what it was before, but I just couldn't get myself to do it...not yet anyways. I took my keys and grabbed my bag before exiting the car and made my way over to the front door. As I entered the house the smell of smoke immediately hit my nose and my eyes widened in panic. Was there a fire?!

I dropped my bag and ran towards the kitchen which the smell seemed to come from. I scanned the kitchen, but didn't see anything that was on fire, but it reeked of smoke in here. I checked all the electric appliances to see if I could find what was causing the smell. Then after I check the stove I noticed something out of the corner of my eye outside out the window. I walked over to it and looked to the backyard. I instantly grew pale at what I saw.

"No!"

I ran to the back door and yanked it open. "Mom?! What are you doing?!"

Mom was standing in the middle of the yard in front of the fire pit that was lit with flames almost as tall as her waist. She ignored my question and picked up a shirt from the pile of dad's belongs and threw it into the fire before grabbing a can of gasoline and spraying it over the shirt to make it burn quicker.

I just watched in horror as my dad's shirt immediately turned into ash before my eyes. Why was she burning dad's belongings? Even when she's drunk she wouldn't touch them. We always kept a couple of boxes of his items to have reminders of him...and just in case he came back.

As she picked up another shirt I quickly ran over to her and grabbed the shirt, trying to yank it out of her grip.

"Mom stop!" I begged. "Why are you doing this?!"

"Your fucking dead beat of a father isn't ever going to come back!" She drunkenly growled. "There's no use for keeping his shit lying around!"

"Please mom," I continued to beg as I yanked on the shirt harder, "this is the only thing we have left of him!"

"Let go of the fucking shirt Hikaru!" Mom warned through gritted teeth.

"You're going to regret this if you-"

"I said fucking let go!"

She then swung a punch, striking me in the left cheek. The punch was powerful enough that it cause me to fall on the ground with a thud, letting go of the shirt. I put my hand on my cheek as I watched her throw the shirt into the fire.

"Fuck mom…" I whispered horrified as I watched the shirt burn.

Mom glare turned back to me. "What the fuck did you just say to me?!"

I gulped as she started marching towards me. I began crawling back as fast as I could to get away, but met with a dead end as my back hit the fence. I looked at mom petrified as she marched to me. Her glare hardening as she towered over me.

"What did I tell you about cursing in this house?!" She hissed.

"I'm-I'm sorry mom. It jus-just slipped out." I gulped again when I noticed her grip tightening on the gasoline can that was still in her hand. I looked back up at her. "It won't happen again. I-I promise."

"You just don't know when to behave yourself. No matter how hard I try to be a great mother you never appreciate it!"

She grabbed the gasoline can with both hands and began spraying gasoline on me. I held up my arms so it wouldn't hit my face.

"Mom stop!" I pleaded. "I'm sorry!"

She dropped the can on the floor. "Maybe this will made you learn to finally respect your loving mother!"

I looked passed my arms and grew even more petrified when I saw her take out a lighter and flicked it open. My eyes immediately went to the flame.

I moved as close to the fence as I could to try to get further away from her. "Mom I'm sorry! I really am! I promise I'll be a better son!"

Mom just stared down at me as I trembled down by her feet. Tears running down my face from fear as I was almost to the point of hyperventilating. After a few slow seconds of terrifying silence mom finally closed the lighter.

"Don't you dare try to stop me from doing anything again or I won't hesitate to burn your ass! Do you understand?!"

I quickly nodded my head, too terrified to produce any words. She threw the lighter at me, causing me to gasp as it hit my chest and I threw it as far away from me as possible. Mom then went back over to the fire pit and I just watched sadly as she began throwing the rest of dad's items in the fire. My heart breaking even more as I watched the items turn into ash.

After all the items were gone mom returned back inside the house. When I saw through the window that she went up the stairs I got up and ran over to the hose, taking my gasoline covered jacket off along the way. I grabbed the hose and turned on the water before making my way over to the fire pit, extinguishing the flames. Once the flames were gone I dropped the hose and made my way over to the fire pit to see if anything survived. I dug through the ash, not caring if it was burning me.

"Come on, come on," I pleaded, "please let there be a least one thing."

After digging for about five minutes I was about to give up hope until I noticed a small portion of what looked like a sliver chain peeking out from under the ash. I grabbed it and pulled it out, seeing that it was dad's old pocket watch. I held it in my hand as I leaned away from the fire pit as I sat on my knees.

My thumb traced over the H engraved on the front that stood for our last name. The silver around the watch was singed but other than that the watch looked fine. I pressed the button at the top, opening the watch. I stared at the face of the watch with sad eyes. It was a family picture of us when Kaoru and I were kids with our parents in France in front of the Eiffel Tower. When mom and dad had a business trip in London dad found a watch shop and asked them to make a custom pocket watch. I remember how excited Kaoru and I were when they finally came home and he showed us the watch. He used to bring this with him every time he went on business trips...so whenever he missed us he could just look at the watch...which he told us he did a lot…

I sighed and put the watch in my pants pocket before standing up. I then grabbed my jacket before heading inside. I grabbed my bag that was still at the front door and made my way up to my room. I closed the door quietly so I wouldn't disturb mom. I then took the pocket watch out of my pocket and hooked it inside my school bag, so it would be safe.

I sniffed my shirt and groaned, I reeked of gasoline. I really didn't want to do laundry today, but I guess I had no choice now. I grabbed black sweats from my dresser before heading to the bathroom. I turned on the shower and made my way over to the mirror as I waited for the water to heat up. I looked at my cheek that mom punched and saw a large red mark was starting to form. Damn it, it'll definitely going to form into a bruise. I really didn't want Haruhi questioning it on Monday.

I sighed before stripping off my clothes and headed into the shower. The warm water hit my body instantly. I was wishing that it would help get rid of some of the stress built up from today but it didn't help anything at all. I moved my bangs out of my face, letting the water hit my face. Today was a shitty day. I woke up with such high hopes that my confession would go so well and I might have had my first real girlfriend if the date went well...but after seeing the way she looked at Tamaki and hearing that they were dating broke me. Then everything that just happened with mom...everything was just too much.

I leaned my head on the glass door, feeling more tears fall from my eyes, mixing with the water from the shower that was already on my face. I've cried more these past two months then I had in the past year and a half. I usually masked my sadness with anger, but I couldn't help it today. I hated that I was crying over a girl, but she was the first girl that I've ever truly fell in love with. I knew that on Monday I would most likely snap at her again like I did today, but I really didn't want to. I would ditch on Monday, but I didn't want to risk the school calling mom, especially not after today.

I hummed a groan as I lifted my head up. I lathered my hair and body with soap, trying to get the stench of gasoline off of me. As I was lathering the soap on my body, my hand accidentally brushed over the scar on my left side, causing me to flinch.

I always tried my best to avoid touching my scar, not because it hurt, but because it was a reminder of the night mom stabbed me. The memory was still so vivid that even the slightest touch could cause me to have a panic attack. I've gotten better that it doesn't always happen every time when I touched it, but it would always make me flinch.

I sighed, trying to get the memory out of my head as I continued to wash my body. When the soap was completely gone from my hair and body I turned off the water. I moved my wet bangs out of my face before stepping out of the shower and putting a towel around my waist. I grabbed another towel and began drying my hair. When I moved the towel through my hair I still noticed the slight stench of gasoline. I stopped drying my hair and put my wrist to my nose, groaning when I could still smell the stench of gas. It wasn't as bad as before, but I'll have to take another shower tomorrow morning.

I finished drying off and put on my black sweats before exiting the bathroom. I sat down on my bed and ran a hand through my damp dark hair. I looked over at my phone that was on my nightstand. I stared at it for a bit before picking it up. I unlocked it and scrolled through my contacts until I reached Haruhi's name. I clicked on it, biting my lip as my thumb hover over the call button. I really wanted to talk to her...I just wanted to hear her voice...but I just couldn't bring myself to.

I flopped on my back on my bed, putting my arm over my eyes. The stress of the whole day finally crashing on me. Even though it was only six o'clock I really wanted to go to bed. I was just so exhausted, but before I could even properly get into bed I felt my phone vibrate in my hand. I removed my arm from my eyes and looked at my phone, seeing Kaoru was calling me. I was really tempted to just ignore his call...but I really needed to talk to someone right now. I answered his call and put the phone to my ear as I sat up.

"Hey Kaoru…" I greeted tiredly.

"Hikaru, please tell me you got my messages!" Kaoru practically screamed over the phone.

I rubbed my temples, trying to reduce the painful headache that was starting to form. "Yeah, but only about an hour ago."

"Does that mean you confessed to her?" His voice was sad, which was starting to make me feel worse then I did before. "Shit Hikaru, I tried telling you yesterday over Skype but the damn internet shut off in the hotel. I couldn't even call or text you because the fucking service was so bad. Hikaru I'm so fucking sorry."

I could hear that he was almost in tears by the sound of his voice changing, which was causing my eyes to start to tear up again.

"I didn't confess." I said, hearing Kaoru sigh in relief. "I tried to after our tutoring session, but…" I whipped the tears from my eyes before they could fall. "Tamaki came in and kissed her."

Kaoru could hear my voice cracking, even though I tried my best to hide it.

"Hikaru I'm so sorry. I should've just said from the start that they were dating. Then none of this would be happening to you. I was just so happy that you were expanding your world and I didn't want it ruined because of those two dating, but I guess I only made it worse."

"I don't blame you Kaoru, I just…" I began crying, not even trying to hide it anymore. "I just wish you were fucking here right now."

"Hikaru," his voice cracked, "you're going to make me cry even more than I am now. I wish I was there too."

I whipped the tears from my cheeks as more continued to fall down my face. For the next few hours I just talked to Kaoru over the phone, talking about his day so we could try to steer my mind away from Haruhi. We talked almost until dawn, as I started dozing off I ended the call with Kaoru. I hooked up my dying phone to its charger and fell asleep almost immediately when my head hit the pillow.

* * *

For the whole weekend I mostly stayed in my room, not getting out of bed. The only time I ever left my room was to cook (which rarely happened because I didn't have an appetite), do laundry, or if mom yelled for me, but other than that I didn't leave my bed. Isao would come in and check up on me, asking if I needed anything, but I would just ignore him until he got the hint and left.

My alarm went off, indicating that it was time to get ready for school. I groaned and placed my pillow over my head, trying my best to tune out the alarm but it was futile. I groaned again but this time with more aggression before slamming my fist on my clock, silencing it.

I stayed in that position for a bit before slowly sitting up. I took in a deep breath as I tiredly rubbed my eyes, wincing as my palm brushed past my left cheek. I lightly placed my hand on my cheek, rubbing it.

The swelling was gone and the bruising was a lot better than it was a couple days ago, but I knew that it'll still be slightly purple today. With a sigh I finally got out of bed. I made my way over to the bathroom and began brushing my teeth. I then went back to my room and got out my uniform and put it on, leaving the few top buttons on my collar of my shirt undone. I then went back to the bathroom and spit out the toothpaste and rinsed out my mouth with water and mouthwash. I then looked at my reflection. Like I thought my cheek was still purple, but only slightly. I looked at my hair, seeing it all tangled from not taking care of it for the past couple of days. I really didn't want to brush it, so I just ran my hands through it until look decent enough for me.

I went back to my room and went over to my leather jacket that was on the floor. I picked it up and sniffed it, a low growl escaped my lips. It still smelled like gasoline. I'll have to drop it off at the dry cleaners on the way to school.

I looked over at my closet, because I wouldn't have my jacket I would have to wear either my school blazer or sweaters. I huffed as I made my way over to my closet, opening it. I took a light blue blazers from a hanger from the far corner next to my other uniform blazers and sweaters.

I just shrugged it on, not even bothering to button it up before I put on my tie, making it loose. I grabbed my jacket from where I left it on the floor and grabbed my bag before leaving my room. I didn't bother getting any breakfast because I still didn't really have an appetite and also I didn't want to be here if mom woke up.

I first stopped by the only dry cleaners that seemed opened this early, putting everything from the pockets of my jacket into my blazer pockets before giving my leather jacket to them. I then got back in my car and made my way to school.

* * *

I walked down the hall towards my class. I sighed, half of me really didn't want to see Haruhi today. All I would think about is that I couldn't have her and I knew that my pent up feelings would turn into anger towards her. Even if I didn't want it to, but the other side of me really wanted to see her...because I still loved her…

I let out another sigh as I made my way to my homeroom class. I stopped as I was at the door, staring at Haruhi who was already at her desk. I looked at her with a sad expression. I really just wanted to turn and leave, but I didn't want to get in more trouble than I already was at home. So I took in a deep breath before entering the classroom.

Haruhi looked over at me when I put my bag on my desk. She grew shocked when she saw that I wasn't wearing my leather jacket and was wearing the uniform blazer instead. She bit her lip, I could tell that she was reluctant to greet me after my blow out on Friday, but she decided to try it anyway.

"Good morning Hikaru." She greeted, a small smile touching her lips.

"Yeah, morning." I grumbled as I sat down in my chair, leaning my head in my hand.

"Where's your jacket?"

"At the dry cleaners."

"You look different."

I glared at her. "Well, I'm sorry that I look so fucking disgusting today!" I hissed.

"I meant a good different." She said, making my glare soften. "Yeah, your hair and uniform are a bit mussed, but it looks good."

I could feel my face start to heat up as my heart began pounding in my chest. I just stared at her for a couple seconds, not knowing how to respond to what she said. I really wanted to smile at the fact that she said I looked good, but it was over shadowed by the fact she was in a relationship.

I just turned away from Haruhi, causing her smile to fall, and I laid my head in my arms. I shut my eyes tightly, trying to calm my heart down.

Damn it, this was a lot harder than I thought it was going to be. The rest of the day was going to be fucking hell.

* * *

 **Haruhi**

The lunch bell rang and all the student began leaving the classroom. Haruhi watched as Hikaru left the room as she grabbed her lunch. He was probably going to get his lunch and meet her in the courtyard like he usually did.

He's been acting weird all morning, but he started acting out after their tutoring session on Friday when Tamaki came over to the library to pick her up for their date. Could he be jealous that he wasn't her only friend? Kaoru brought up that he was a bit possessive about people and things that he liked, maybe that was it. She should ask him about that during lunch and also ask about the bruise on his cheek. Which she was a bit angry about because he didn't contact her if it was his mother who hurt him.

She got up with her lunch and began making her way to the courtyard. She sat where they usually sat and waited for him to show up so they could eat together.

Ten minutes passed and Haruhi was starting to get hungry. She began playing with the cloth that was wrapped around her bento. There was quiet a walk from the cafeteria, but it never took him this long. She pulled out her phone and texted him.

 _Hey, where are you?_

A few seconds later she saw that he read the message. The bubble popped up that he was typing back, but it soon disappeared. Haruhi waited for the bubble to show up again, but it never did.

Her expression fell. Was he really that mad?

Haruhi sighed before standing up and grabbed her bento. She knew that he wasn't coming so there was no point in staying. As Haruhi turned to leave she heard footsteps coming from behind her. She whipped her head around, expecting to see Hikaru coming up from behind her, but when she turned around no one was there.

Haruhi looked around to see who could've made those footsteps. When she couldn't find anything she just sadly shrugged and began walking away. Not noticing a person peeking their head out from behind a corner, staring at her sadly as she walked away.

* * *

 **Hikaru**

It was the end of the school day and we were half way through our tutoring session. The session was extremely awkward between the two of us. Just like how it was during our first couple of tutoring sessions. I could tell that Haruhi was upset with me, and I didn't blame her. I really wanted to eat lunch with her, but when I tried approaching her I freaked out and hid before she could see me...like some fucking coward. I cursed at myself for backing out. I felt really bad when I watched her walk away, so I promised myself that I'd try to be as nice as I could to her for the rest of the day.

I finished up my assignment and looked up at Haruhi, who was reading a book waiting for me to finish up. I cleared my throat, causing Haruhi to look up from her book at me, the glare still on her face.

"I'm done…" I said shyly.

Haruhi looked at the assignment then back at me. "Are you sure?"

"I said I was done, didn't I?" I replied curtly.

Well, there goes my plan…

Haruhi glare hardened. "Really? Did you know there's a back side?"

My scowl fell and I flipped the worksheet to the other side and saw a series of more questions. I put my head in my hands, covering my eyes as I felt the stress build up.

"Shit…" I whispered under my breath.

Haruhi's glare fell as she looked at me as I was having trouble. She sighed and closed her book after bookmarking it before setting it on the table.

"Hikaru, what's wrong?" She asked. "You've been acting out since after our session on Friday.

"Nothing's wrong." I grumbled, not bothering to look up at her.

"I know you're lying. If you really were fine you wouldn't be acting like an complete ass right now."

"I said I'm fine!" I snapped, glaring up at her which she just responded back with a glare as well.

"I stand by my statement."

My glare immediately fell and was replaced with a doleful expression before facing away from her.

"Hikaru, can I ask you a question?" She asked.

"Yeah, sure…"

"Are you jealous that Tamaki senpai and I are dating?"

My face grew scarlet as I looked back at her, my heart pounding nervously. Was it that obvious that I liked her? I didn't really make any strong hints towards it, but why would she be asking if she didn't know?!

"Jealous?! Why would I be jealous?!" I hissed. "Why would I care about your fucking love life?! It has nothing to do with me!" I could've stopped right there, but my jealousy just took over as I thought of her and Tamaki together. "I wouldn't be surprised though if he cheated on you! He's always been a fucking flirt with all the girls and he's probably even slept-"

"That's enough Hikaru!" Haruhi snapped, making me flinch. "I understand that you're upset that you can't be my only friend, but that's how things are! Don't take out your anger by making these offensive false assumptions about my boyfriend!"

She began packing up her supplies in her bag.

"Where are you going?" I asked, a little bit afraid that she was going to snap at me again.

"To the club room." She answered, not bothering to look at me. "I'm ending our session early today."

She then pulled out a small black envelope with my name written in gold on it and threw it on the table in front of me. I picked it up and looked at it.

"Kyouya invited you to his birthday next week." She said, causing me to look back up at her. "He asked me to give it to you, but I wouldn't be surprised if you didn't come." She zipped up her bag before glaring at me again. "Because you're just some fucking selfish asshole who only cares about himself."

My expression fell again hearing her say that before she turned and began making her way towards the door. I watched her sadly as she walked away then looked down at the invitation in my hands, fiddling with it.

I cursed at myself, I let my emotions over power me again and I took it out on her, even though I tried not to. I just couldn't help it when my emotions took over. I always had a problem with that ever since I was a kid, but I'll admit that it only has gotten worse. Especially with everything at home.

At least the only good thing is that she just thought I was only jealous of Tamaki because I wanted to be her only friend, not because I actually loved her. I looked back at the door she exited the library from. The feeling of guilt began to wash over me. I couldn't just leave things with her like this. Even though it pained me to call her a friend, I would rather her be my friend then losing her completely.

I huffed before packing up my supplies, not bothering to fully zip up my bag as I rushed out of the library after her. When I exited into the hallway I saw Haruhi halfway down the hall walking towards the stairs.

"Haruhi!" I called out, but she just ignored me. I growled and ran to catch up with her. "Haruhi wait!" I called out her name again before grabbing her arm, making her stop.

She turned to me with a frown. "Hikaru, I really don't want to continue this argument right now. I just want to-"

"Can you just let me talk?!" I hissed, causing Haruhi's glare to harden by my tone. I mentally slapped myself for my attitude before letting out a sigh as I let go of her arm and put my hands in my pockets. "I just wanted to apologize for how I've been treating you today. I had a shitty weekend and I took my anger out on you...again," I began shifting my weight from foot to foot awkwardly as I ruefully stared back into her beautiful brown eyes, "and you were also right about me being jealous of Tamaki. I just haven't had a...friend like you before and I got jealous that you couldn't just be my...friend."

Haruhi just stayed silent for a bit, just staring at me. Her eyes then traveled to my bruised cheek. "Is that how you got the bruise on your cheek, because of your mom?"

I nodded as I lightly rubbed my left cheek. "Yeah, she punched me when I tried to stop her from burning my dad's belongings that we had boxed up."

"I'm so sorry Hikaru." She said morose. "I can't imagine what that felt like."

I just shrugged my shoulders, but it was clear that I was upset about it.

"I don't know why, but I just have a sudden urge to hug you." She said. "It might be because I feel bad for you. If my mom's items were burnt in front of me...I don't know what I would do." She wiped a tear from her eye at the thought and let out a soft chuckle. "But don't worry. I won't hug you."

I bit my lip, before shrugging again. "Well, if you really want to I don't mind."

She looked at me shocked. "Really?"

"It might be a bit awkward, but if you really want to-"

I was cut off as Haruhi suddenly hugged me, catching me a bit off guard. I looked down at her as she had her head in my chest. I just stared at her, feeling my face start to heat up. I grew more nervous as my heartbeat quickened, afraid that she would be able to hear it. I then let out a breath, making Haruhi know that my body was no longer tense as I calmed down and slowly wrapped my arms around her, burying my nose in her hair. I took in the scent of her cheap off brand shampoo that actually smelled quiet nice. I closed my eyes as I enjoyed the hug. Her touch made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside, a way no one else has ever made me feel before. It saddened me that I wouldn't be able to do as often as I would like because of Tamaki being her boyfriend. Just the thought of that almost brought tears to my eyes, but I swallowed them back as I tightened my grip around her.

Unfortunately soon after, Haruhi's phone vibrated in her pocket which made her separate from me. She took out her phone and read the message, letting out a frustrated sigh. "Great."

"What's the matter?" I asked, putting my hands back in my pockets.

"Tamaki senpai was supposed to help me learn the girl part of the waltz after I was done tutoring, but this is his third time canceling."

A light bulb lit up in my head and a smile formed on my lips. "What if I teach you?"

She looked at me, puzzled by my offer. "Huh, you want to teach me?"

"Yeah, since your 'lovely' boyfriend keeps ditching you, I could help you out by teaching you."

"But didn't you say that you would only teach me if hell freezes over?"

"I changed me mind." I said nonchalantly. "We can just say that I'm paying you back for how shitty I've been treating you all day." My smile widened. "So what do you say."

Haruhi remained puzzled before a smile appeared on her face as well. "Well, if you're offering then sure I'll do it."

"Great, and don't worry. I'll try my best to keep it professional." I winked.

* * *

 **Hey guys I hoped you enjoyed this chapter. I really hope that you all are enjoying the story so far because I'm really enjoying it. I'm not going to spoil anything but there might be some fluff in the next chapter, then in a couple chapter some bigger fluff...that's all I'm saying on that.**

 **Please Favorite, Follow, and Review. Until next time.-HH1957**


	11. Chapter 11

"Sorry." Haruhi apologized again as she stepped on my foot for the twentieth time.

"Just remember to follow my lead. You're trying to take the lead and that's why you keep stepping on me." I said calmly, trying to remain patient but it was growing thinner and thinner every time she stepped on my foot. "Also remember it's quick, quick, slow. Not slow, slow, quick. Also put you hand on my upper arm." I moved her hand from my lower arm to my upper arm. "It looks a lot more professional that way."

After our tutoring session we decided to make our way to the courtyard to have more room to practice. I thought i would be best to practice near the hedge maze so we could be hidden from the other students so Haruhi wouldn't embarrass herself with her awful rhythm, and also so we could be alone.

We tried again. I began leading her through the waltz, trying to follow the beat of the classical music that I had playing on my phone and I immediately felt her tense up, which was making her lose the little rhythm she had.

"Don't tense up. You're making your rhythm even worse than it is."

She groaned out of frustration before separating from me. "I can't do this. We've been practicing for almost half an hour and we've made no progress."

I walked over to my phone that was next to my bag and turned off the song before facing back towards her. "It's because you're thinking too much about it which is causing you to mess up. You already know the guy part right? So you can definitely do the female part."

Haruhi sighed defeated. Her irritated expression turned glum as she looked at the grass that she was pushing with the toe of her shoe. I've never seen her like this. She usually was so dedicated with her work, always trying to succeed, but maybe that was just for school work.

"How about this." I smiled, trying to help reassure her. "Think of it like horseback riding. If you can ride English you can ride western but not the other way around."

"I've never been horseback riding before. So that doesn't really help me."

"Alright, uh…" I looked up as I tried to think of another thing that she could relate too. "It's a lot like running. If you can run you can walk?" I shook my head at the shitty example. "What I'm trying to say is that you already know the hard part of the dance which is the male part. So the female part should be a breeze."

"I think both parts are equally as hard." She huffed, her eyes expression defeat as she looked at me. "I'm just ready to give up."

"Don't say that." I walked over to her, a small smile on my lips. I took her hand into mine. My heartbeat quickening when I touched her soft skin. "If I can deal with tutoring for an hour every school day you can handle practicing the waltz for the same amount of time." I brought her hand close to my lips and I gave her a wink. "Come on, just give it another try."

I could tell that she was thinking whether she should agree to try again. I know that she didn't want to give up, but she was just frustrated.

She sighed. "Fine, I'll try one more time."

My smile widened. "Great."

I let go of her hand and went back over to my phone and resumed the music. I then grabbed Haruhi and positioned her correctly for the waltz. I slowly began dancing the steps so Haruhi could follow the best she could. At first she was doing great, we flowed through the music and our feet didn't touch once as we danced but after about a minute I could feel her tense up again, making her start to mess up again. I leaned down and whispered into her ear.

"Don't tense up. You're doing great."

Haruhi took in a deep breath and all the tension left her body. When I felt that she was comfortable enough I began to quicken my pace a bit, which she followed surprisingly well, not stepping on my foot once. Her rhythm still wasn't the best but it was a lot better than before. The song soon ended and Haruhi smiled at me brightly.

"I did it! I can't believe that I actually did it." She beamed.

I chuckled at her reaction. "See, I told you, you could do it if you didn't stress over it." I heard the next start to play and an idea popped into my head. "Hey, before we finish I want to teach you another move."

She looked at me unsure. "Is it going to be hard? I really don't want to feel frustrated again after I finally did the waltz right."

"Don't worry." I winked. "I promise it'll be easy."

"...Alright."

My smile grew bright and held her closer to me. "Ok, so I'm going to spin you and pull you back. All you need to do is not fall down."

"Wait, hold on-"

Before she could finish her sentence I flung her out, causing her to spin until both our arms are straight. She stumbled a bit but caught herself before she could fall.

"Alright, now when I pull you back you spin again."

Haruhi nodded and when I pulled her back towards me she spun, but instead of her facing me she had her back towards me. I smirked, my plan came out perfect. I pulled her flush against my body and used my other hand to grab her free hand, making my arms crossed around her upper torso. I began to sway as I laid my head in the crook of her neck. My lips lightly brushed against her skin. It pained me not to plant at least one kiss on her neck, but being this close to her was definitely worth the pain.

"Uh Hikaru, what does this have to do with the waltz?" Haruhi asked.

"It's a move that a lot of couples do while dancing. I just wanted you to be prepared for when your...boyfriend does it." I answered, sneering at the word boyfriend.

I slowly moved my head from her neck to her head, laying my cheek in her hair. I let out a loving sigh and closed my eyes as I took in the scent of her hair, which was starting to become my favorite scent. Being this close to her, her body pressed up against mine made me feel a way that I've never felt before. All I just wanted to do was spin her around and kiss her before…

"Hikaru?" Haruhi called out my name, breaking me out of my reverie. My eyes shot open and I lifted my head from her hair. "How long are we supposed to stay in this position?"

I blushed slightly from the thoughts in my head and for holding her for so long. I let her go, even though it was against my wishes. Haruhi turned around to face me and didn't seem to notice my blush as she spoke.

"So, is that it today?" She asked.

"Um," I cleared my throat, "yeah we're almost done."

She cocked an eyebrow. "Almost?"

"I just want to give you one tip." I grabbed her chin and tilted her head up to look into my eyes. "You kept looking away from me while we danced. It might've been because you were trying not to mess up but you should always look at you partner." I smiled at her. "It makes the dance more romantic."

"Alright…" She breathed.

My smile fell as we continued to stare into each other eyes. My heart began to beat fast into my chest and it seemed like my body had a mind of its own as my hand moved from her chin to cup her cheek. Our eyes remained locked to each other's and I could feel my breathing start to quicken. I know that she was in a relationship and seemed happy but right now I didn't give fuck. I just wanted to kiss her.

I began to lean down towards her slowly. The gap between us began to get small and smaller. She didn't seem to stop me so I continued to close the gap between us and I closed my eyes, but as our lips were about a breath away…

"Haruhi?"

I growled at the sound of his voice. My eyes opened and I glared as I look towards the direction where the voice was coming from. Why was he here? Didn't Haruhi say he was busy? Why does he have to ruin everything?!

I growled again with more aggression and moved away from Haruhi. Haruhi just stared at me confused as I had my back towards her and my hands in my pockets. She then turned towards the direction where her name was called.

Tamaki walked passed the corner of the maze and spotted us. He smiled and ran over to Haruhi with Kyouya trailing behind him. He grabbed Haruhi's hand and kissed her cheek, which caused my glare to harden at him.

"Haruhi I'm so glad that I found you. I got out of my meeting early. So I can help you with your dancing now."

"Oh, that's alright. Hikaru has already helped me today."

"Hikaru helped you?" He looked over towards me, who still had my back towards them. He scowled at me. "And why would he do that?"

"Because you ditched her three days in a row." I answered before looking at him over my shoulder. "So I decided to help her out."

"I didn't ditch her." He hissed.

I hummed a laugh before smirking. "Yeah, sure."

"Aren't you guys in a fight? You came to sit with us at lunch because he never showed up. Also the way he spoke to you on Friday was unacceptable."

"We talked everything out after our tutoring session and worked it out. Then because he felt bad for how he's been treating me he offered to give me dance lessons because you were busy." Haruhi answered. "I also think that it's a good idea if he continues to give me lessons because you've been so busy lately with your family's company."

"Haruhi…" He then glared back over at me which I just responded with the same smirk on my face. "Haruhi, can you wait for me in the club room. I would like to speak with Hikaru."

"Tamaki senpai what are you planning on doing?" She asked in a serious tone. "I don't want to hear when you come back to the club room that you two got into a fight."

"Don't worry. I'm not planning to do anything like that. I just want to...talk."

Haruhi narrowed her eyes at him, not believing him but she knew that she wouldn't be able to talk him out of it. She sighed and walked over to me, grabbing my arm to get my attention.

"Don't beat him up too bad." She jokingly whispered.

"I can't promise anything." I snickered.

Haruhi smiled and I watched her as she grabbed her bag. I smiled at her as she walked away from us. I was a little sad to see her go, I didn't talk to her all weekend because I was upset so I wanted to try to spend as much time with her possible to make up for how shitty I've been towards her, but of course he had to mess it up!

When Haruhi was out of sight I turned my attention towards Tamaki with a glare, which he gave in return.

"So, what did you want to talk about?" I hissed, finally turning to face him.

"I don't know what you're doing Hitachiin, but I want you to know this," he said as he walked over to me, trying his best to tower over me threateningly. "I don't like you around my Haruhi, but I'm going to put up with it because she's your tutor but I know your reputation with girls." His glare hardened. "If you try anything like that on my darling Haruhi I swear to God I'll beat the shit out of you. You got that?"

I clenched my jaw, trying my hardest not to show him how furious I was. All those rumors of me with girls were mostly false. Yes, there was a time where I did hop from one girl to another but that was it. Some of the girls however started rumors about how we slept together and that I only wanted to fuck them. Which lead a lot of girls to believe that I was easy and try almost anything to get into my pants. Kaoru obviously knew that the rumors weren't true and tried to clear up everything but to no avail. I thought people were finally beginning to forget about the rumors, but by Tamaki threatening me I guess not.

I hid my anger with a smirk, showing him that he wasn't scaring me. "Acting all tough aren't we? Are you afraid that I'm going to try and steal your girl Suoh?"

"I'm not afraid of anything because I know Haruhi would never cheat on me. I just don't want you harassing her because you need someone to please you for a night.'

My eyebrow twitched and I began clenching my fists but I continued to keep the smirk on my face. Even though all I wanted to do was sock him in his fucking pretty boy face. I bit the inside of my cheek so I wouldn't say anything because if I did I knew it I wouldn't be able to hold back my anger and I knew Haruhi wouldn't appreciate if I harshly insulted her boyfriend. So all I responded with was a dark chuckle, causing Tamaki's glare to harden.

"Don't say I didn't warn you." He said as he turned to leave.

"Ohh, scary." I teased, which he didn't respond to as he walked away.

When he turned the corner and was out of sight my smirk fell. I knew Haruhi wouldn't believe him if he tried to warn her about the rumors but I didn't want them in her head, because they weren't who I actually was. I didn't want her just for sex. I wanted her because I loved her as a person. I loved the way she always looked into my eyes when she spoke, I loved her laugh whenever she thought of something funny. Hell I even loved how blunt she was towards everyone, even if it might hurt my feelings a bit, though I wouldn't admit it. I wouldn't change anything about her because in my eyes she was perfect...while I was far from it. I had a short temper, I was rude, selfish, didn't let anyone get too close...was damaged. I rubbed my bruised cheek, really damaged.

I sighed sadly before walking over to my bag. I squatted down to pick up my phone and turned off the music that I forgot that I had playing for our dance lesson. A small smile touched my lips at the thought of us continuing the lessons together. Which meant I got to be with her every day after tutoring and be able to be close to her as I was today, her body almost flush against mine. Her lips just centimeters away from my lips…

My smile immediately fell when I heard someone clear their throat. I looked over towards them and saw that Kyouya was still here, a small smile on his face. I glared at him.

"What the hell are you still doing here?" I growled.

"Oh so you're going to give me an attitude now?" Kyouya asked, the smile never leaving his face. "You know I know that it's an act so there's no point."

I just sighed as I pocketed my phone before grabbing my bag and standing up. "What do you want Kyouya?"

"I've never seen you act that way towards someone before." Kyouya made his way next to me, the smile never leaving his face. "You even offered to give her dance lessons for the upcoming ball in two months. The Hikaru I knew would never do something like that."

"Well, I'm trying something different." I responded nonchalantly. "It's nice to change things up awhile. Being the same thing for a long time gets boring."

"Are you sure that you're not just in love and are trying to impress her?"

My cheeks grew dark scarlet and my heart began pounding in my chest. I faced him and tried to find my words to lie to him by denying that I was in love with her.

"I...don't...I…" I tried to stutter out, which Kyouya responded with a cool chuckle.

"I can see that I'm right."

"I-I don't know what you're talking about. We're just...friends." I said the word friends through clenched teeth, which caused Kyouya to chuckle again.

"Don't worry, having a crush isn't something to be ashamed of." His expression then turned serious and he pushed up his glasses before looking back towards me. "However, if you do try making advances towards her then we'll have a problem."

I glared at him and let out a low growl. "You know that those rumors aren't true."

"I'm not talking about the rumors." He said. "I'm talking about that if you try and interfere with hers and Tamaki's relationship because of your own feelings. I think I know you well enough that you won't do that." He began to walk away but first stop next to me and put a hand on my shoulder. "Call me if things get bad a home, alright?"

I just nodded and Kyouya patted my shoulder before resuming to walk away. I just looked down at the grass, seeing the wind lightly blow the blades of grass while I thought of what Kyouya told me. At first I didn't want to interfere with Haruhi's relationship and I still don't, but after being so close to her today and being so close to her lips…

I bit my lip before shaking my head, trying to get the impure thoughts out of my head. Even if I did try to make an advance towards her she wouldn't make any back because she was happy in her relationship. So there was no point to even try.

Even though I really wanted to...

* * *

I walked up to my front door and used my house key to unlock the door. I haven't really eaten all day so I was just going to make a quick dinner and eat it in my room. Hopefully mom wasn't mad that I came home later than usual today. I was in a decent mood right now and I didn't want her ruining it by yelling or hitting me.

I opened the door and entered the house, closing the door on the way in, when I was suddenly greeted by my mother, who actually looked happy to see me.

"Welcome home." She greeted happily as she walked up and hugged me, which I just looked at her confused. She then kissed me on the cheek before looking back at me. "How was my darling son's day at school?"

I just blinked in confusion. I could tell she was still drunk by the stench of alcohol on her, which was actually stronger than usual. This must've been one of the rare occasions where she was nice, which was actually pretty creepy, but it was better than her abusing me.

She gasped and gingerly placed her hand on my left cheek, causing me to flinch. "What happened to your cheek? Did you get hurt at school? Did someone hit you?"

 _'You hit me, you're the reason why my face is bruised because you're a fucking alcoholic,'_ was what I wanted to say but I was too scared to. I didn't want her to get angry and hit me again.

"I got hurt during gym class today." I lied. "It's nothing to worry about."

"Nothing to worry about?" She exclaimed, she cupped both of my cheeks. "My baby got hurt under the schools watch. That's unacceptable." She turned away and began marching towards the kitchen. "I'm going to give the chairman a call and give him a piece of my mind."

"Wait mom!" I called out as I chased after her. I didn't want her calling Mr. Suoh and finding out that I couldn't have gotten hurt in gym class because I'm wasn't even taking the class. He might tell her that I probably got into a fight and that might be the reason my face was bruised, which knowing mom she would most likely be furious hearing that her "precious son" would get into a fight.

I grabbed her arm before she could make it to her purse. "It's alright mom really. It's my fault. I was being too careless and ran into a poll."

"Oh honey, you need to be more careful. I don't want you damaging that perfect face of yours." Her face then brightened as the topic changed. "Since you've been working so hard in school lately that Isao and I decided to treat you to a delicious meal."

I bit my lip, trying not to make an expression. Even though I was starving I would rather go hungry then eat mom's cooking, but I knew that if I declined to eat her food again her mood would change drastically like it did last time.

"Uh, so what are we having?" I asked.

"Well, since we've been eating home cook meals for a while now we decided to get some Chinese food." She answered, causing me to let out a small sigh of relief. "It's not the fanciest place but Isao said that it's the best in town. I hope you're ok with that."

"It's fine." I reassured. "I really don't mind where it's from as long as it's good and won't give me food poisoning."

Then as if on cue the front door opened and Isao came in with a bag full of take out in hand. This was actually the first time I was ever happy to see him. My stomach immediately growled as the smell of the food hit my nose.

Isao smiled at us when he closed the door. "I must've come back just in time. I was afraid that I would have gotten back before you got home."

Mom clapped her hands excitedly. "Ooh, we can finally have a family dinner after so long. I always wondered why we suddenly stopped having them."

 _'Because you forced me to fend for myself.'_ I said in my head. I would always cook my dinner either before or after they had dinner because usually whenever I would try to eat with them around mom would force me to leave, even if I was in the middle of cooking or eating.

We all sat down at the dining table and Isao began passing out the boxes of take out to each of us. I opened my box and was delighted to see that it was orange chicken with vegetables and rice. I might not like him but at least Isao knew what type of food I actually liked, while mom probably would've gotten the opposite in her drunken state.

I ate in silence as mom and Isao talked about their day. I didn't bother listening as I ate my food, which to my surprise was actually really good. However, even though I was starving I was picking at my food as I began to get lost in thought. I began to think about the dance lesson.

A faint smile touched my lips as I thought about how close our bodies were and how I was literally centimeters away from her lips, almost about to kiss her. I just wonder what would've happened if Tamaki never showed up…

"You seem awfully chipper tonight Hikaru." Isao pointed out. "Did something happen at school today?"

I shrugged my shoulders, but kept the smile on my face. "Yeah, I guess you can say that."

* * *

A week has passed surprisingly quickly. After our tutoring sessions Haruhi and I would have dance lessons for about half an hour and I have to say that dancing with her was the best part of my day.

For just a week she has improved quite a lot. She was more on beat with the music and she only stepped on my feet about once or twice a session. She was also beginning to keep up with me when I quicken the pace, only stumbling a few times.

It was Saturday, the night of Kyouya's birthday party. I opened my closet and began looking through the few suits that I had. I wanted to give off a good impression, mostly for Haruhi. I know that I couldn't have her by that doesn't mean that I couldn't look good for her.

"No too dark." I pushed that suit to the side. "No this one is too bright."

I growled as I pushed another suit to the side. Did I really have nothing to wear? I was a son a famous fucking fashion designer for Christ sake!

Maybe Kaoru had some suits I could wear, we are the same size but most of his suits were white and bright while I mostly liked dark colors. I moved another suit to the side and was now looking at the last suit in my closet. It was pretty plain, just a black suit. I could wear a white dress shirt with it and it might actually look good. I grabbed the suit and a white dress shirt and changed into them. I haven't really worn a suit in quite some time so it felt weird to put one on again. I buttoned the button of my suit jacket before walking over to the mirror to look at my appearance. I readjusted the tie that I threw on while getting ready and glared at my reflection. The suit looked nice and clean. The black jacket and pants fit perfectly to my body. The white shirt underneath was buttoned up all the way to the top and held my tie snugly. I looked clean, but too clean. I took my tie off and threw it on my bed before unbuttoning the top button of my dress shirt so the collar was open and unbuttoned my suit jacket.

I took a look at my new appearance and my glare immediately fell. Yeah, I didn't look as clean cut as before but I still looked good and I'd say more my style.

I smiled at my reflection. Hopefully Haruhi would like it.

* * *

 **Thanks for waiting patiently and reading the latest chapter. I would love to hear some feed back to see how you guys like the story so far, that'll really help me to see what you guys like so it will help me in future chapters. Please Favorite, Follow, and Review. Until next time.-HH1957**


	12. Chapter 12

I pulled up outside the gate of Kyoya's mansion. I showed the guard at the gate my invitation before they allowed me in the estate. I drove up the driveway, passing the guests who were getting out of their family limos, and parked. I sighed as I turned off the ignition before looking at the entrance off the house. Guest were piling up at the door, trying to get in. How many people did Kyoya invite? I thought this was supposed to be a party for his friends? But I really shouldn't be surprised though. Usually every party a Host Club member threw they had to invite a lot of guests and have the club members host them like they did in the club.

I but my lip nervously, I haven't really been to these kind of parties in years since I was in the Host Club. We never threw parties at our house because it was too small to have a lot of guests in, unlike most of the other members' houses, which were about four times bigger than ours.

I wasn't really a big fan of crowds anymore. Being too close to a lot of people brought me anxiety, and I didn't like people's bodies rubbing up against mine as they tried to walk by me.

My hand reached for my box of cigarettes that were in the inside pocket of my suit jacket, but I halted as my fingers brushed against the cardboard box. I promised Kaoru and Haruhi that I would try and quit, but it was a lot harder than I thought it would be. Yes I did smoke less than I did before, but the stress of everything was making me crave them a lot more than I usually did.

I huffed before moving my hand away from my cigarettes and got out of my car. I put my hands in my pockets before making my way over towards the entrance. I ignored all the stares and whispers I got as I passed some of the other guests, they were probably surprised that I showed up to a party, especially a party thrown by a Host Club member. But if I could be honest I was only here because of Haruhi. If she wasn't going to be here I wouldn't have shown up.

Yeah I might not be able to see her a lot tonight because she had to be with the club members for most of the night, but as long as I got to spend at least some time with her tonight I'll be happy.

I walked into the mansion and immediately grew uncomfortable by all the people that were here. Most of the guests were in the center of the room, dancing to music that was playing in the background. I wasn't really surprised that Kyoya had classical music playing, so the partiers wouldn't go too crazy and I could tell some of the more "wilder" guests were upset about that.

I slowly made my way over to the side of the room where barely any people were and hid there, trying to stay unnoticed by everyone. I scoped out the room to see if I could find Haruhi. I didn't know what she was wearing, all I knew was that it was a dress. I bit my lip nervously again when I didn't see her. I couldn't find any of the other Host Club members either, so they might make a big entrance like they usually did, but it was rather odd they would do it at someone's birthday party. Well, it was Kyoya and he would do almost anything for money, even if it meant throw a birthday party to get the club more profits. I looked over at the clock that was on the wall. The party didn't officially start for another five minutes.

I sighed and was about to go to the buffet table to get something to drink when I sudden felt arms wrap around my waist and felt a body press up behind me, which caused me to flinch from the sudden action.

"Hey handsome." The random female voice greeted. "I never thought I would ever see you at a type of party like this."

My eyes widened. Could it be...No, Kyoya doesn't even know her. So there was no way she was invited. I spun around, getting out of the girl's grip and faced her. I instantly let out a short sigh of relief when I saw that it wasn't Mari, but soon glared at the person in front of me. It was one of my former flings...Ahmya...no, Akira...Asuka..? Whatever the fuck her name was.

She was wearing a short, tight cocktail dress that had a huge V neck that stopped right at her abdomen, causing her to have extremely revealing cleavage. The upper portion of the dress had black pearls that were sewn into a floral design, almost as if they were roses. The skirt was loose and didn't huge her body like the rest of her dress did, which I was glad about. Her light golden brown hair was up and had a small braid that started at the left side of her head that traveled to the huge bun on the other side. Her makeup was exquisite and looked like it was done professionally (which it probably was). She was a gorgeous girl, there was no denying that, but I was not even the least bit interested in her. I only had a slight fling with her because I thought she was hot.

"What do you want Asami?" I hissed.

"My name is Ayame," she corrected me, but didn't seem offended that I got her name wrong, "and I came over to see how my ex-boyfriend has been doing."

"I was never your boyfriend."

She giggled and wrapped her arms around my neck, pulling her body closer to mine. Suddenly a familiar scent hit my nose and my blood instantly went cold. She smelled like alcohol. By the way she was acting she was most likely tipsy. She's always been flirty and was one of the girls who would always try to get me to sleep with her, even though we only went out for about a week, but right now she was acting more lustful than usual. Kyoya wouldn't have alcohol out at a party he was throwing, especially not with everyone here being underage. She must've brought her own liquor.

"Oh," she purred as she bit her glossy red lip seductively, "then I was just a toy for you to play with." She brought her face closer to mine, causing the stench of alcohol to worsen. "I like that."

I just growled at her, which seemed to turn her on even more. I wanted to just get her off of me, but the scent coming off of her made it hard to move any part of my body.

She began playing with the hair on back of my head. "How about we go somewhere more private," she put her lips to my ear, "and you can play with me as much as you want."

An uncomfortable shiver went down my spine as she bit my earlobe seductively. I finally found the feeling in my arms and immediately pushed her away from me, causing her to stumble back and almost falling over because of the black high heel shoes she was wearing.

"Get the fuck away from me!" I hissed before storming towards the door.

I felt my breathing start to quicken along with my heartbeat. I couldn't be here any longer. I know I promised Haruhi that I would try getting out of my comfort zone and stay at the party until it was time to leave, but running into Ayame and her reeking of alcohol was already too much for me. I tried to push past the group of guests that were making their way towards the party but as their bodies touched mine it made everything I was feeling grow worse. My lungs began to burn as my breathing turned into pants. Even though I was taking in a lot of air with each breath it felt like I couldn't breathe.

I finally made it towards the door but before I was able to get outside I felt someone grab my arm. I thought it was Ayame trying to get me to go with her some place so I ripped my arm out of their grasp and turned to glare at them, but my glare immediately softened when I saw it wasn't Ayame and someone I actually liked.

Haruhi stood in front of me with a concerned look that made me feel bad for ripping my arm out of her grasp. I could tell that she noticed the terror in my eyes along with my heavy breathing.

She grabbed a hold of my hand and she noticed that I was trembling. "Come on, let's calm you down."

I just nodded and allowed Haruhi to lead me outside. She took me to the side of the mansion in the front yard, hidden away from everyone. When she let go of my hand I leaned against the wall and tried to calm myself down the best I could.

"Are you ok?" Haruhi asked.

"Yeah," I answered in between breaths, "I haven't been around this many people in a while, and I ran into a person who smelled of alcohol and that definitely didn't help with anything."

"Someone smelled of alcohol?"

I nodded. "Yeah, she brought her own liquor. I think she got tipsy before the party, saying that it just started."

"Do you want me to ask Kyoya to throw them out? I have a feeling if someone is drunk he'll do it."

"No, it's fine." I said as I started to finally calm down.

I then finally noticed what Haruhi was wearing and a slight red tint appeared on my cheeks. She wore a beautiful white dress that fit her curves perfectly. The strapped draped over her left shoulder, leaving the other bare. The skirt of the dress wasn't too frilly but just had enough to compliment the dress, along with a ribbon around her waist that was tied into a bow at her right hip. Her shoulder length hair was slightly curled, almost wavy and she had light makeup on that brought out some of her beautiful features on her face. She was gorgeous, not even a girl like Ayame could even come close to how beautiful she was. Just staring at her made my heartbeat quicken, but this time in a good way.

"Are you feeling any better?" She asked, breaking me away from admiring her.

"Uh, yeah." I replied before clearing my throat. "You look gorgeous by the way."

She smiled, which only made her even more gorgeous, if that was even possible. "Thank you, and you look really handsome."

I bit the inside of my cheek as I tried my hardest not to blush or smile at her compliment. She really thinks I'm handsome? Fuck, I feel like one of those fangirls that the Host Club manipulates, but I couldn't help it. However, I knew by looking into her eyes that she was actually being genuine, which made my heart flutter.

I finally stopped fighting back and smiled at her lovingly. "Thank you."

My body decided to move on its own and I didn't stop it as I tucked a piece of hair behind her ear. Then I slowly moved my hand down to caress her cheek. She didn't seem to mind my sudden action and it felt like she actually leaned her face in my hand, her smile matching mine.

"Haru-chan?"

We both blushed when we realized what we were doing and I quickly removed my hand from her cheek and shoved it in my pocket. We both turned to look at Honey, who was standing at the front door. Why did everyone have to interrupt us?

"Tama-chan wanted me to come get you for the couples dance."

"Couples dance?" I questioned. "Why is there a couples dance at a birthday party?"

"Tamaki senpai begged for it." Haruhi answered with an annoyed sigh. "His excuse to Kyoya was that he's been really busy and hasn't been able to have a lot of couple time with me so he asked if there could be a dance dedicated for the couples."

"Yeah, that sounds like some shit he would do." I grumbled as I crossed my arms over my chest. A bit annoyed that she was leaving me to be with _him_.

"Well, I better get going before he starts freaking out." She touched my arm, causing me to look back at her, seeing her smile. "I'll see you later tonight."

"Yeah," I smiled back at her before winking, "save me a dance, ok?"

"I will, I promise."

She then turned and walked over to Honey before heading back into the mansion with him. I sighed sadly as I leaned my back against the wall and took out my box of cigarettes out of my suit jacket pocket. I haven't had one all day so just one couldn't hurt.

I put the cigarette in my mouth before taking out my lighter and lighting it. I huffed out a puff of smoke as I put my lighter away. Slowly I could feel the anxiety from the party disappear and replaced with relaxation with each drag that I took. I haven't had a cigarette in about two days and I did feel a little guilty for breaking my streak, but I also didn't really care. I just wanted all the stress and anxiety that I've been holding in for the past couple of days go away.

"I thought I told you the last time you were here that you're not allowed to smoke."

I looked over towards the front door as I was halfway through taking another drag and saw Kyoya at the door, a small smile on his face which I could tell meant he was glad I was here.

"Sorry." I apologized after I blew out some smoke. "I'm just under a lot of stress right now."

He put his hands in his pockets and made his way over to where I was and leaned on the wall next to me.

"Was all the people too overwhelming for you?" He asked.

I tapped the cigarette, watching the ash fall from the end before putting it back to my lips. "Yeah, I haven't been to something like this since middle school." I looked up at his house. "I don't think I've been in a mansion since I stayed here last year. I don't understand how I lived in a house like this before. It's so...fucking huge."

Kyoya chuckled. "Yeah, I can see how you might think that. You had this big change during your third year of middle school where you moved from a castle like house to a small two story house that looks like it could be the set of a horror movie." I hummed a laugh at his comment as he continued. "But what I don't understand is that your mother is still the country's most famous fashion designer, but yet she decided to pick that house out of all the mansions that were available."

I shrugged my shoulder before taking another drag. "I don't know. All I know is that Isao convinced her to buy the house while they were dating saying that it would be the best for us to live a 'normal' lifestyle. I thought mom would just shrug the comment off and buy the mansion that we were looking at, but somehow Isao convinced her to buy the house we're living at now."

Kyoya shook his head. "I don't trust that man."

"Who, Isao?"

"Yeah, there's just something off about him." He said before turning his head over to look at me. "Your father just suddenly disappears one day with no evidence of what happened then a week after your mother just suddenly meets Isao at a bar and they immediately hit it off."

I just shrugged my shoulders. "Life can be a fucking bitch man. I don't like the man, can't fucking stand him, but I doubt he's an evil person."

"I don't know I just don't trust him. I would keep an eye on him if I were you."

I just forwarded my eyebrows in confusion before looking down at the ground. Could Isao really be a bad guy? Yeah he was fucking annoying but he's always been nice. Even when I'm always a complete dick to him. But was it just a facade?

I felt Kyoya grab my shoulder, breaking me out of my thought. I looked up at him. "Well, I'll let you finish what you're doing here, but only this one time, alright?"

I nodded and Kyoya patted my shoulder before heading back inside his house. I just remained outside and finished the rest of my cigarette, listening to the music that I assumed was from the couple dance that was playing. I took one last drag before sighing out the smoke and putting my cigarette out. The music finally finished, that must've meant that the couple dance was over, which I was relieved about. I don't think I could've stand watching Tamaki dancing with Haruhi. Just the thought of it made me angry almost to the point where I wanted to leave but I'm only staying here for Haruhi, which is the only person I cared about.

As I heard the next song began to play I decided that it would be the best to head back inside and find her. I took a deep breath, relaxing my nerves before re-entering Kyoya's house. When I made it to where all the guests were I hid back in the corner and began looking for Haruhi, but couldn't find her. Did she leave with Tamaki somewhere? I hope not, I really wanted to spend a little more alone time with her before we danced.

I began walking around the side of the room I was on, trying to see if I could find her within the crowd of people, but I didn't see her. I could feel my anxiety began to build up again as I continued to search for her, but it was growing more difficult as the room began to feel smaller and it felt harder to breathe.

I then suddenly felt someone bump into me and I turned to them, hoping that it was Haruhi but grew disappointed when I saw that it was some random female guest.

"Sorry." I apologized as I stared back in the crowd.

The girl looked up at me and her annoyed frown instantly turned to shock when she saw that she bumped into me instead of one of the unattractive male guests at the party. Her shocked expression then turned flirtatious as she began twirling her brunette hair with her finger.

"It's quite alright sir. I don't mind at all."

I just ignored her as I continued to scan the crowd for Haruhi, starting to grow worried. Where was she? She couldn't have gone far, the couple dance didn't end that long ago. Maybe the girl I bumped into knew where she went.

"Hey," I said as I faced back towards the girl, "do you know where Haruhi Fujioka went?"

"Why would you want to know where that low life commoner went?" The girl said as she pressed her body against mine, causing me to glare at her. God, were all the girls at this fucking party horny? "How about you ditch that tramp and hang out with me tonight." She purred.

I growled at her, ready to tell her off about calling Haruhi a tramp when an idea popped into my head. Maybe I could trick her into telling me where Haruhi went, and I knew just what to do.

A flirtatious smirk spread across my face and I cupped the girl's face as I began leaning closer to her so our noses were almost touching.

"How about we make a deal?" I purred. "You tell me where Haruhi is, then I'm all yours tonight and we can do whatever you like."

I could almost feel the girl tremble in sexual excitement as I caressed her face, staring into her boring, lust filled grey eyes.

"Ye-Yeah, sure." She said, stumbling over her words. Her legs feeling like jelly. "Sh-She went out into the garden to look for someone. I-I don't know who though."

"Thank you." I said as I leaned in closer to her.

"So-So you're all mine tonight now?"

My smirk widened and lowered my face closer to hers, our lips just a breath away. She closed her eyes, ready for our lips to meet but I just snickered, causing her eyes to open again.

"You know, you're the real tramp here." I said, my smirk widening. "Only giving away information if I promised to sleep with you. How fucking pathetic." I pulled my face away from hers and continued to smirk at her expression that was complete and utter shock from what I just said. I gave her a wink. "Thanks for the information. It's greatly appreciated."

I then turned to leave, leaving the girl standing there alone. Unable to process what just happened. I made my way to the garden and began walking through it, continuing my search for Haruhi. I was grateful that Kyoya's mansion didn't have that big of a garden. My old mansion had one about twice as big so it wouldn't take as long to find her.

I searched the garden for about ten minutes and when I finally turned the corner past a hedge I finally spotted her. A smile instantly spread across my face as I jogged up to her.

"There you are Haruhi. I've been looking for you fucking everywhere." My smile instantly fell when I noticed that she wasn't paying attention to me. "Haruhi?"

I looked at her expression and noticed the horrified look she had on her face as the tears welding up in her eyes began to fall. I turned my attention to what she was looking at and my eyes widened.

There, standing in the middle of the grass surrounded by the hedge maze, next to the stone gazebo was Tamaki...kissing Ayame…

That fucking bastard...

* * *

 **Hey guys, sorry for the short chapter. I promise that the next one will be a lot better, I just need some build up for the next chapter. Which I'm only saying some stuff might happen, I don't know.**

 **Anyways, so I just noticed after years of writing that I've been spelling Kyoya's name wrong this whole time (I've been spelling it Kyouya) so I'm trying to fix it by breaking the habit of spelling it the wrong way.**

 **I hope you guys are liking this story as much as I'm writing it.**

 **Please Favorite, Follow, and Review. Until next time.-HH1957**


	13. Chapter 13

We just continued staring at them kiss. Ayame bringing his head down closer to hers as she tightened her grip around his neck, deepening the kiss. I felt an anger that I never felt before ignite inside me. How...How could that fucking bastard do this to Haruhi with that fucking slut? I knew that he was a flirt but this was something I even thought that he wouldn't do but here he was, kissing another girl that wasn't his girlfriend.

I clenched my fists and let out a low growl as I felt my anger grow and I was about to march up to him so I could beat the living shit out of him but before I could even take one step Haruhi put a hand to my chest, stopping me. I looked down at her, seeing her bangs covering her eyes as streaks of tears trailed down her cheeks.

"Don't," she said in a weak voice, "he's not worth it."

"But he's kissing another fucking woman!" I hissed. "I'm not just going to stand here and watch him hurt you like this!"

"I know," she said as more tears ran down her face as she turned away, "but he's still not worth it..."

My furious expression turned sad as I watched her walk away. I've never seen her so broken before and it crushed me. I just couldn't wrap my head around how Tamaki would just cheat on her so easily, especially after he was worried that I was going to try and make a pass at Haruhi. He seemed to care for her and love her as if she was the most important person in his life, but it was all a facade. She must've not worship him like he's used to and needed that attention, so he was seeking it from other women. It churned my gut in a sickening way to ever think that I was ever associated with someone like him.

I glared back at the 'couple' kissing one last time, seeing them separate from each other, before I turned and ran to catch up with Haruhi.

"Haruhi wait up." I called out as I ran up to her but she didn't stop and seemed to quicken her pace. "Haruhi wait." When I caught up to her I grabbed her arm, finally getting her to stop but she didn't look at me. "Haruhi I'm really sorry that this happened to you. Out of everyone here you're the person who least likely deserves this. How about we-"

I was then suddenly cut off as she quickly turned around and engulfed me into a big hug and placed her head in my chest as she began sobbing loudly in my shirt. I looked down at her and felt my heart ache from seeing her like this and I wrapped my arms around her. I wasn't very good at comforting people in these kinds of situations. I would usually ignore them or walk away so I wouldn't have to deal with their problem because I already had enough on my own. But seeing Haruhi, who was usually so strong and helped comfort me through everything I was going through at home, cry in my chest was heartbreaking and I tried the best I could to comfort her. I tightened my grip around her as I put my nose in her hair, feeling her sobs began to worsen. Her tears were soaking through my white dress shirt but I would have cared less about that at the moment.

"Why," she sobbed into my chest, "why would he do this to me?"

"I don't know." I answered as I lifted my nose from her hair and laid my chin on her head. "I really don't know."

I bit my lip as I felt my own eyes began to burn with tears by seeing her in this much pain. I've never been in this type of situation before and even if I was I wouldn't have cared because I didn't have any romantic interest towards any of the girls I've dated, but even though I absolutely hated their relationship I knew that she really did loved Tamaki and seeing him kissing another girl must've broke her.

"Hey," I said softly as I separated from her, cupping her face with both of my hands, so she was looking at me, "how about we ditch this party. We're both not having a fun here. We could go somewhere and hang out for a couple hours because I know you don't want to face your dad when you're this emotional and I definitely don't want to go home to my mom." I wiped a few tears from her faces with my thumb as more fell. I bit my lip again as a suggestion came into my mind but I didn't know how she would react to it. "How about we go to a hotel and spend the night there." A warm blush spread across my face when I could tell by her expression what she thought I might be indicating. "I-I know it sounds weird but I promise it's innocent. We can rent out two rooms so when we're done talking we can-"

"Ok." Haruhi breathed.

I blinked, a bit shocked that she actually agreed so easily. "Re-Really."

She nodded as she wiped the tears that were threatening to spill over again. She took in a shaky breath. "Yeah, I just want to get out of here."

I swallowed the lump in my throat before nodding. Even though the idea I suggested was innocent I couldn't help but get nervous at the idea of us actually going to a hotel together. Usually when that's suggested it means that people want to just hook up for the night and I didn't want that. Hopefully she knows me well enough to know I won't do anything like that, despite the rumors about me. I just wanted to try and help her the best way I could. If I could be honest I didn't really want anything to happen between us tonight because it would most likely be her using me to try and cope with her feelings and I don't think my heart could handle that.

"Alright, and you can pick whatever hotel you want, I'll pay. Then if you want I can get us some snacks and drinks or whatever. Girls usually do that for friends who are heartbroken, right?"

Haruhi let out a soft chuckle through her sobs. "I guess, I've never been in a situation like this before." She wiped more tears from her face. "I just need to get out of here."

I gave her a small smile before grabbing her hand. "Then come on, let's get out of here."

* * *

For most of the car ride we were silent. The only sound that was heard was her sniffling. I really wanted to say something to her to her but I was afraid that I might say the wrong thing that could cause her to break down again. I quickly glanced at her and saw that she had her head leaned up against the window with her hands on her lap. I really wanted to reach over and take her hand into mine and run my thumb against the back of her hand to try and comfort her, but I was afraid that if I tried she would either reject my gesture or think that I was trying to make a pass at her. I let out a small sigh and looked back at the road, following the GPS to the hotel that Haruhi chose. The quiet ride finally ended as I pulled up to the destination and parked, looking at the building in disgust.

"This is not a hotel." I stated.

"You said I could pick anywhere I wanted." Haruhi said as she unbuckled her seat belt.

"I meant by you could pick any hotel you wanted. This is a fucking motel."

She rolled her eyes. "They're literally the same thing." She opened the door of my car. "Come on, let's go."

I watched her as she got out of my car and looked back at the motel. I'd never been to this part of the city before, and never planned to. I was used to seeing successful men and women dressed in designer suits and dresses walking down the street, even in my neighborhood. I may not live in one of the wealthiest of areas but we weren't considered middle class. Here however was the complete opposite. The motel looked dilapidated with cracks in the walls and what looked like mold growing in between them. The other cars that surrounded us made my black Mustang look like a Rolls-Royce. They were either old, had huge dents in them, or had paint chipped off of them, or all three. The people here weren't any better either. There were either people who were planning to have one night stands or were too drunk to go anywhere else tonight besides the liquor store next door. This place just gave me all sorts of bad vibes, as if a person was just going to pop out of nowhere and either stab me, shoot me, or mug me, or again all three. But if this was where Haruhi wanted to stay for the night then I'll put up with it.

With a sigh I got out of my car and made sure I locked it before following Haruhi into the motel. The asphalt underneath my shoes felt sticky from some sort of unknown liquid, that I really didn't want to know what it was, and made me regret wearing one of my best dress shoes.

Inside the motel was a bit better than the outside (not by much). It looked like a downgraded version of a Hilton Inn, a really downgraded version. There were mismatched chairs and couches on the left side of the lobby while on the right side was what looked like a dining room, which I assumed was for the meals that they served here. From seeing how the place looked like I didn't even want to see what their food looked or tasted like.

Haruhi and I walked up to the front desk and waited for the worker to greet us, but she didn't look up from her fashion magazine she had in her hands.

I cleared my throat as I tried to get her attention, which I guess somewhat worked. She moved down the magazine slightly so we could only see her grey eyes glaring at us before she finally decided to greet us.

"May I help you two?" She asked in an irritated tone.

"Uh yeah, can we have-"

"Let me guess." The employee said as she put down her magazine on the desk. "You two just came back from either a party or dance and are planning to hook up for the night because you just suddenly bumped into each other and think you have found the perfect one like in those chick flicks. Am I correct?"

"Uh...no." I answered, a bit shocked at how detailed her question was, but she probably had a lot of teens come here because of that situation in the past. "Actually we wanted to rent two rooms for the night. Specifically next to each other."

The employee eyed me suspiciously before letting out a huff and getting up from her chair before going to get our key cards.

"I still don't understand why you picked this place rather than the hotels I suggested." I grumbled as I took out my wallet.

"This place is a lot cheaper than all those hotels and it's pretty close to my house so we don't have to travel a long distance to go home. Also…" She looked down at her hands that were lying on the counter. "My dad used to take me here when he wanted to go on a family vacation. We didn't have enough money for a real vacation but he would save up for a place like this, so it seemed like we were on a real vacation at a real hotel." She looked back up at me. "It may be gross to you because you're use to going to places way more luxurious than here but this place brings me back really good memories."

I gave her a remorseful stare as I started to feel guilty for bashing the place. If I had known that this place was so special to her I wouldn't have said anything bad about it to her, just in my head.

"Sorry," I apologized, "I didn't know this place was so important to you."

Haruhi didn't say anything as the employee came back with our key cards. I paid her for our rooms with cash (because I wouldn't dare use my card here) and we began making our ways to our rooms.

I looked down at our room numbers on the key cards. _'118 and 119'_. I began looking at the silver metal plaques on the walls with the room numbers on them as we walked down the hallway. _'115, 116, 117…'_

"Here's our rooms." I said as we walked up to the room numbers that were on our keycards.

I handed Haruhi the 118 card and she took it from me before walking over to her room door. She put the card in the slot on the door handle and took it out but as she tried to open the door it wouldn't budge. She let out a small growl and tried again but it ended in the same result.

"Shit." She cursed as she kicked the door.

"Here, let me try." I offered.

I grabbed the card from her and flipped it around so the three small arrows were pointed up and put the key card in the slot before quickly taking it out. The buttons below the handle lit green and I opened the door to her room.

"Thanks." She grumbled as she took the card back from me and walked into her room. She turned when she didn't hear my footsteps following her and saw that I haven't moved from my spot out in the hallway. "Aren't you going to come in?"

"Oh," I said a bit surprised, "I thought you might've wanted to be alone for a bit after everything that happened tonight, so I was just going to go to my room for a bit until you're ready."

"No, it's ok." She opened the door wider, inviting me in. "I just really need to be with a friend right now."

"Oh uh, ok then." I said as a warm blush tinted my cheeks as I entered her room.

I walked to the center of the room as she closed the door behind me. The room was pretty small, probably the size of Haruhi's living room just maybe only slight bigger. The only pieces of furniture was a queen sized bed that had cheap covers that made my skin itch just by looking at it, two nightstands, and a dresser where a medium size TV was sitting on facing the bed. The green carpet and rusty yellow wallpaper was a horrendous combination that I wouldn't be exaggerating that it actually was painful to my eyes to look at, and I didn't even want to think what those fucking stains on the carpet were from. Shit, I felt like I was in an episode of Hotel Hell, but worse.

Haruhi walked passed me and sat down on the edge of the bed, leaving some room for me which I gladly took. I sat down next to her, making the bed creak loudly from both of our body weights. I frowned and moved again, which made the bed creak even louder.

"God, I'm going to go fucking insane tonight when I go to bed."

Haruhi let out a small chuckle. "Welcome to a part of a commoners life style. Where some of our beds tend to creak from how old they are but we can't afford to buy a new one so we have to deal with it."

I hummed out a short laugh as a small smirk formed on my lips. "Yeah, I'm missing out on quite the adventure."

Her chuckling soon grew silent and a doleful expression returned to her face and tears began to welled up in her eyes again.

"Was I really that bad of a girlfriend?" She softly cried, wiping away some tears. I looked down at her sadly as she continued. "I know I wasn't the most affectionate unlike him, but I did love him. So what did I do wrong?"

"You did nothing wrong." I replied as I gently placed my hand on top of hers. "People who cheat there is something wrong with them. They can't be loyal to anyone because they don't want to just stay with one person for the rest of their lives and chose to hurt their partner for their own selfish desires. So what happened tonight was not your fault."

Her eyes began to fill up with tears again as she looked at me and I could tell that she was trying her hardest not to burst out in sobs again. She then placed her head on my shoulder and turned her hand over so she was holding my hand, intertwining our fingers. I grew a bit shocked by her action but it soon faded away and I laid my head against hers as I gave her hand a comforting squeeze. I don't know how long we stayed in this position but I didn't care. I was just glad I was able to comfort her through all this.

"I hate love." She grumbled as she broke the silence.

"I don't." I said. "I may not have been in a real relationship but I believe that there's always someone out there perfect for everyone."

She let out a sigh as she nestled deeper in the crook my neck. "I guess we haven't found the perfect one yet." I just remained silent, not responding to her comment as it felt like an arrow just went through my heart, but I tried not to let it affect me. "Hikaru, can I ask you a favor?"

"Sure, you can ask me anything."

"Can I have a cigarette?"

I lifted my head and frowned at her. "Why?"

"Well, you told me you smoke to relieve stress and I really don't want to feel like this right now."

"Yeah, it'll take away your stress but it'll only give you temporary relief then you'll start to feel like shit again soon after."

"I know, but it's still worth a try."

"I'm trying to quit. I don't have any on me right now." I lied.

"Oh don't give me that bull shit." Haruhi rolled her eyes. "When I hugged you I could clearly smell the stench of smoke off of you. So I know you have a pack on you."

"Haruhi…"

"I just want to try one, that's all. I promise I won't ask for anymore and it's not like I can become addicted to them because I won't have enough money for food if I do." She looked up into my eyes pleading. "Please."

I just stared into her eyes for a few seconds, contemplating if I should really give her one. I wanted to try and make her feel better but a cigarette doesn't always help, but if I refused to give her one she might start to break down again and I didn't want that.

I let out a sad sigh. "Fine, but just one."

Haruhi nodded and I pulled out my box of cigarettes along with my lighter. I gave one to her and she placed it between her lips before I helped her light it. She took a quick drag but instantly started coughing.

"No, stop." I said as I plucked the cigarette from her hand before she could take another drag and burned it out on the ashtray that was on the nightstand.

"Hikaru why did you-"

"Because I don't want to see you doing something that can kill you!" She grew shocked by me yelling at her and I began to feel guilty as I saw tears welled up in her eyes again. I sighed sadly. "I'm sorry. I just don't want you to get into a bad habit like smoking."

"But you do it."

"And I regret it. Like you said before it puts a big dent on your health and I don't want to see you hurt yourself for some fucking guy you're too good for." She looked down at her hands glumly and I tucked a piece of her hair behind her ear before placing my hand on her cheek, causing her to look back up at me as I smiled. "Hey, how about I go to the liquor store next door and I'll buy whatever you want. That's legal."

Haruhi let out a light laugh and smiled at me. "Alright fine."

She told me all the items that she wanted from the store (which was a lot for a girl her size) and left her room to pick up the items. The liquor store was small and cramped by all the items, but that was to be expected. I didn't like liquor store, they brought me a huge amount of anxiety by just how easily the alcohol was accessible. When Kaoru and I were younger mom made us go to liquor stores to try and get her alcohol because she feared that paparazzi would catch her if she went on her own. Some stores would let us buy any alcohol we wanted despite us clearly being under aged, but some wouldn't and we had to steal some bottles because we knew if we returned home without anything we were going to be punished. Sometimes we would even get two beating because if we were caught stealing by the owner they would chase us down and beat us until we would give up what we stole then when we got home with nothing mom would would beat us as well, but more severe.

I shook my head to get rid of those thoughts and looked around the store for all the items that Haruhi wanted, and some stuff that caught my interest. When I found most of the items that I needed I went up to the cashier and put my items on the counter next to another customer who was being ringed up by another cashier. As the cashier began scanning my items I looked at the items the person next to me had. A small shiver went down my spine seeing all the bottles of alcohol that were being bagged, which sadly I knew the names of. Vodka, sherry, tequila, and whiskey...most of mom's favorites...I shouldn't be surprised seeing a person buy liquor here, but it was still hard to look at.

I swallowed the lump in my throat and paid for my items as the guy next to me left with his items. Letting out a small sigh of relief from him leaving I grabbed my bags and left the store when I knew he wouldn't be in the parking lot.

I forwarded my eyebrows in confusion as I lifted one of the bags up and down, feeling how surprisingly heavy it was. I did buy a lot of items but were a bag full of snacks and a drinks really be this heavy? I just shrugged it off and made my way back to Haruhi's room. I unlocked and opened the door before walking over to the bed and placing the items next to her.

"Alright," I said as I handed her one of the bags, "I got all the items that you wanted that I could find."

She grabbed and opened one of the bags of chips I bought and began eating them as I opened the bag I had to get our drinks, but I immediately paled when I saw what was in the bag. The bag was full of bottles of alcohol that the man next to me was buying. Shit, he must've grabbed my other bag when he left.

"Shit, shit, shit." I whispered.

Haruhi looked over at me as she ate another chip. "What's wrong?"

"My bag got switched with the other customer's." I held up the bottle of vodka to show her. "This one is filled with bottles of alcohol." Haruhi took the bottle from me and looked at it as she ate another chip. "I guess I can return them and tell the cashiers it was a mix up-"

I suddenly grew silent when I heard a cap being unscrewed and I looked up to see Haruhi taking a swig of the vodka.

"Haruhi!" I grabbed the bottle away from here once it left her lips. "What the fuck are you doing?!"

She just rolled her eyes. "Calm down Hikaru, it was just one drink. Lighten up a bit."

"But-"

"I understand that you have this bad impression of alcohol because of your mother, but just drinking one time won't turn you into an alcoholic." She motioned with her hand for me to take a sip which I just responded by widening my eyes.

"I-I can't. We should just return them and thrown this one out."

"Come on, don't you want to just forget how shitty your life at home is just for a bit?" She asked, making me look back up at her. She gave me a small smile. "I promise that you won't turn into an alcoholic like your mother Hikaru. Let's just forget about this shitty night together."

I just stared at her, with slight terror in my eyes at what she was suggesting we do. Yes it would be great to have a night to where I forget the fucking problems in my life, but that would mean I would have to drink the thing that caused most of my problems.

"Just try it once," she said, "and if you don't like it then we won't drink anymore."

I looked at the bottle unsure. I know Kaoru and I made a pledge that we would never drink because we saw what it did to our mom, but Haruhi was right, drinking one time wouldn't hurt me and it would help me forget all the shit in my life for the night…

"Fuck it." I mumbled before taking a small swig of the vodka just like Haruhi did, but instantly began coughing by how strong it was after I swallowed it. I didn't really get any taste but bitterness but yet there was a weird sweet taste that wasn't that bad, but it was overshadowed. "Fuck, how can my mom drink this stuff?"

"See," Haruhi said, causing me to look back at her, "you're not an alcoholic just from that one drink. So what do you say, you want to forget this shitty night together?"

Again she was right, I didn't automatically turn into an alcoholic after that one sip, but I still wasn't sure that this way a good idea...but yet, it did sound nice to have a night without having the thoughts of what's going on at home…

I grabbed the bottle of sherry that was in the bag and handed it over to Haruhi, who took it with a big smile.

"That's the spirit." She uncapped the sherry and smiled at me as she held up the bottle as if it were a toast. "For our first time drinking."

She clicked her bottle with mine and we both took a drink of the alcohol that were in our hands.

* * *

Drunken laughter filled the room as we both laid on our backs on the bed next to each other, facing up at the ceiling.

"I still can't believe Tamaki did that." I laughed. "Riding a fucking segway to school and tried to propose to you because he just found out about his feelings and thought you felt the same way. What a fucking idiot."

"I know," Haruhi snorted, "I can't believe I ever fell in love with that asshole. He's so fucking annoying."

"What did you even see in him anyway?"

"Well, I thought he was caring, sweet and loyal. Yeah he was annoying but the way he was so kind to everyone just caused me to fall for him, but now I guess it was all a facade."

I rolled my eyes and groaned out in annoyance as I sat up, which Haruhi soon followed. "Everyone just loves Tamaki. He's literally the king of the entire fucking school. If you can be friends with him you're instantly popular but if you get on his bad side everyone hates you. What a fucking jackass." I took another drink of the, now half empty, bottle of vodka.

"Why do you hate him so much?"

"Well, I didn't technically hate him, not until now." I confessed. "But after the whole blow out of me being kicked out of the Host Club our relationship instantly fell from friends to almost enemies. He and the Host Club literally rule the school and because I was kicked out people started hating me because Tamaki did." I let out a small huff, blowing my dark bangs out of my face. "You should have seen the way people treated me during the third year in middle school because Tamaki didn't like me. They would try and tease me and pick fights, but when I wouldn't fight back they would just say I was a coward because I didn't want to get in trouble at school. Then one day they tried to pick a fight with me again and because I was already having a shitty day I snapped, beat the shit out that kid. Got suspended for a week and got a worse beating at home then what I gave the kid, but it was still worth it." I snickered as I swished the liquid around in the bottle. "When I got back to school the next week that hatred turned into fear and it hasn't changed since. I know Tamaki didn't tell everyone to hate me, but he also didn't do anything to stop it. The only time people actually talk to me now is when I'm around Kaoru or they're girls looking to hook up." I grumbled. "I don't get how Tamaki is loved so much."

"I think people love him because he can relate to them. He could relate to me because he wasn't allowed to see his mother back in France until recently."

"Oh boo hoo." I grumbled again as I rolled my eyes. "Hell, I'd fucking rather be in his situation where I couldn't see my mother than her abusing me." I brought the vodka bottle back up to my lips before continuing. "Shit, I was technically in his situation when I was little because my parents were always away on business trips out of the country and now my dad is fucking missing so I'm most likely never going to see him again." I took another drink before letting out a sigh. "Besides the situation with his mother and how his grandmother used to treat him his life seems perfect. He usually gets whatever he wants without even trying." I looked over at her with morose eyes. "He got you."

"Well, he doesn't anymore." She said as she laid her head on my shoulder, which I just responded by laying my cheek in her hair.

"Can I confess something to you?" I asked.

"Sure, you can tell me anything."

"That day, when I got really angry at you after our tutoring session. I was actually going to confess my feelings for you."

She lifted her head and stared at me in shock. "You were going to confess to me?"

"Yep," I said, popping the P at the end, "but of course the first and only person that I have feelings for Tamaki is dating." I took a swig of the drink. "Just my fucking luck."

After my drunken confession, that I most likely wouldn't remember in the morning, we just remained silent. A few moments of silence passed and I could feel myself starting to doze off, but I would wake myself up before I could fully fall asleep. I opened my eyes again, seeing that my vision had turn a bit blurry. I tried rubbing them to see if it would fix my vision but it was futile, but I didn't seem to mind. I should probably get to bed, it's probably really late and I felt like I was about to pass out any second from how quiet it got.

"I should probably go to my room." I sighed out tiredly, rubbing my eyes again with my palm to see if it would help this time.

"Hikaru…" Haruhi breathed, causing me to look at her.

Our eyes instantly locked and no matter how hard I tried I couldn't look away, though I didn't really want to. I could feel my heart pounding hard in my chest as I stared into her beautiful big brown eyes that I grew to love. I didn't know if it was because I was really drunk or not but it seemed as if she was beginning to lean towards me. I blinked a bit, trying to get my eyes to unblur again and when they finally did I saw how close Haruhi was to me. I didn't dare to move as I felt her gingerly place a hand on my cheek before moving her face closer to mine.

"Haruhi…" I whispered, not breaking eye contact with her.

Slowly her lips hovered over mine as we continued to stare at each other, our breathing starting to get labored before she finally closed the gap between us. At first the kiss was soft and sweet, our lips in sync with each other's even in our drunken state. Her lips were soft and tasted sweet, which might've been from the sherry she had been drinking, and it was driving me insane. Soon after the kiss turned from sweet and innocent to hot and heavy. I quickly threw my suit jacket off, not caring where it landed on the floor, before grabbing her face with both my hands and deepening the kiss. She squeaked as I slipped my tongue in her mouth but soon let out a moan as she wrapped her arms around my neck, bring us even closer, causing our noses and lips to clash together as we grew even more heated. Her lips felt amazing against mine, even in our sloppy drunk make out session, they felt like they were just made for me.

I soon felt her hands travel down from my neck to my chest, which caused a moan to escape from my lips from how amazing her touch felt and it began driving me crazy. I grabbed her by her thighs and lifted her up so she was straddling my lap, not breaking our kiss once. I could feel the heat from her body pressing against my need for her which was driving me even more insane.

I never felt this way before or needed someone so much. She understood me unlike everyone else and was the only one who was able to break through the strong lock I had around my heart, which no one has been able to do before, no matter how hard they tired. She was like a drug to me, when I was around her I was on a high that I never wanted to get off of and when she was gone it felt like I needed her to survive.

I felt her hands began toying with the buttons of my dress shirt. It took her a few moment but she soon began unbuttoning my shirt, still keeping her lips on mine.

 _'I need to stop this.'_ I thought as I felt her continuing to unbutton my shirt. _'We're drunk, we don't know what we're doing. She's also probably coping with her heartbreak through me, which I don't want. I need to stop this before things go too far.'_

When she undid the last button of my shirt I separated from her and was about to tell her we should stop and just go to bed but before I could even say a word I felt her soft delicate hands running along my chest, causing a shiver of pleasure run through my entire body.

"Fuck." I groaned out before I began kissing her neck, teasing her with my teeth when I found her pulse point.

She let out a soft moan and tilted her head a bit to the side so I could have more access of her neck. I didn't care anymore that my mind was telling me to stop. I needed her right now.

I grabbed her by her waist and turned us over so her back was on the bed. When we were comfortably on the bed I got on top of her and engulfed her lips into another kiss before reaching over and turning the lamp off that was on the dresser, darkening the room. As she wrapped her arms back around my neck I moved my hands behind her, my fingers brushing up against the zipper of her dress. I slowly unzipped the back of her white dress and yanked it off of her the best I could drunkenly without ripping it.

I stared at her underneath me and took in her beauty the best I could through my drunken vision. The curves of her body were breathtaking and made me wonder how the hell everyone, including me, thought she was a guy. Yes, she was a far cry from having the curves and breasts of some of the models that you see, but I would rather be staring down at her body then any of those models any day.

I was a bit surprised however to see that her underwear matched. I thought she would've been someone who wouldn't care for something so unimportant like that, but I guess I was wrong. Although, they were obviously different brands from each other.

I looked back at her face and noticed the small red tint on her cheeks. I didn't know if it was from embarrassment or from her just being so drunk. I smirked and leaned down so my lips were next to her ear.

"You look amazing." I breathed, causing her to let out a soft moan by the tone of my voice.

I felt her grab the hem of my shirt and tried to tug it off of me. I snickered as she grew frustrated when she couldn't get my shirt off and I helped her by shrugging it off and tossing it to the floor.

"Better?" I purred as I hovered back on top of her.

She chuckled and cupped my face with her hands. "Much."

She kissed me again and entangled her hands in my dark locks as she brought me closer to her. I inched my hand back behind her back behind her and fiddled with the hook of her bra as our lips meshed together. Finally I got her bra to unclip, causing her to gasp as I slid it off of her and the cold air hitting her newly exposed skin.

I trailed kisses down to her breasts and cupped one in my hand. She was small chested, it was obvious, but she definitely wasn't flat either. She couldn't have been an A-cup like I heard Kaoru talk about while he would try and find clothes for her. She was more likely a B-cup, which probably meant she grew over the past year. I kissed the breast that I held in my hand before I engulfed her nipple into my mouth, causing her to let out a gasp, followed by a pleasure filled moan. Hearing her moan from me pleasuring her caused a feeling of euphoria I've never felt before and wanted more of, as if I need it survive. I took her nipple out of my mouth and kissed her breast again, as I rolled her nipple between my fingers as I fondle her breast. My touch grew less delicate as I reached up and captured her lips. Her fingers became claws as they reached my back and she let out another gasp she felt my hand leave her breast and hook the waistband of her underwear. I slowly began sliding them off as I separated from our kiss and I began leaving a trail of kisses down from lips down to her breasts, to her stomach. I kissed lower and lower until…

"Hika!" Haruhi shrieked out in pleasure.

A smirk spread across my face as I repeated the action, causing her to scream out again. It then felt as if I awoken a part of myself I haven't ever seen before as I watched her squirm in anticipation and pleasure, making my need for her grow significantly.

I let out a lust filled growl as I crawled back on top of her and brought my lips back to hers in another heated kiss. I ran my hands through her shoulder length hair before cupping her face as I deepened the kiss.

Just the thought that she was bare underneath me caused another groan to escape my lips. I soon moved from her lips to her neck as I felt her clumsily try to unhook my belt. The smirk reappeared on my lips at her difficulty and I helped her undo my belt then slid off my pants along with my boxers. I propped myself so my elbows were on either side of her head as we stared at each other, our breathing turning into pants from the anticipation.

My brain was still screaming for me to stop as I positioned myself, but I was too drunk and in need of her to care. She grabbed my hands and intertwined our fingers as she stared up at me with dark, lust filled eyes which drove me over the edge. I brought my lips back down and kissed her sweetly.

There was no turning back now.

* * *

 **Hey guys I hoped you enjoyed this chapter. I really wanted to update last week but I got so busy with school work that I didn't have enough time. I also hope the you like the little semi-lemon scene. This is my first time writing a scene like this so it may not be the greatest, but I think it's not bad for a first try at one.**

 **I really hope that you guys are enjoying the story and would love to hear feed back, it helps improve and drives me to write more (even in class which I shouldn't be doing XD).**

 **Again I hope you enjoyed this chapter and I'll try to update as soon as I can, I just need to update my other stories _Asylum_ and _Frozen Heart_ first, but I'll still work on the newest chapter to this story in between them. Thanks for reading and please Favorite, Follow, and Review.-HH1957**


	14. Chapter 14

**Haruhi**

 _'Ugh, why does my head hurt, and why does my body feel so sore?'_

Haruhi tiredly groaned and tried to lay in a different position to see if it would help her throbbing headache, which it didn't. She slowly opened her eyes and looked around the room, soon realizing that she, in fact, was not in her room, but in a motel.

 _'That's right, Hikaru brought me here to try and cheer me up after seeing Tamaki senpai...kissing another girl…'_

Her heart ached at the memory of her boyfriend's betrayal and subconsciously moved her hand to her chest, but something caught her attention. She didn't feel any fabric, she felt skin, her bare skin. She lifted up the covers and saw that she was naked, in fact very naked. Not a stitch of clothes on her. Then before she could even question where her clothes went she felt movement coming from the other side of the mattress, accompanied with a low grumble. She slowly turned her head to look behind her and instantly her eyes landed on the peaceful face of Hikaru sleeping. His dark hair was disheveled as it laid against the pillow that his arms were propping up underneath. She could tell by the rhythm of his breathing that he was asleep. She watched as his chest slowly rise and fall, seeming as if he didn't have a care in the world at the moment, but as Haruhi watched him sleeping she noticed something...he was shirtless…

Suddenly remembering that she herself was nude underneath the covers her eyes widened. Could it be..? No, they both weren't that stupid. Yeah, they got a little drunk last night (which she thought was a good idea then but now regretted it) but they couldn't have done _"that"_ , but why was she naked then?

She continued to stare at him, feeling her stomach churn, and not from her having a massive hangover. There was only one way to confirm if they did… _"it"_. Haruhi carefully moved onto her other side, making sure that she didn't wake up Hikaru, and lifted up the covers just a bit so she could see a peek. Her eyes immediately grew wide and a red blush covered her face when she saw that just like her, he was naked.

Haruhi let out a glass-shattering scream as she shot out from the bed, using one of the blankets on the bed to cover her nude body. Hikaru let out a groan as he was awakened by the loud scream and shoved his face in his pillow.

"Why are you fucking screaming?" He grumbled as if he was in pain, probably from the hangover as well. He opened his eye that wasn't covered by the pillow and saw Haruhi was standing up and covering her nude body with a blanket as a horrified expression was plastered on her face. Hikaru's eyebrows forwarded in confusion and he slowly lifted up his head and tiredly squinted at Haruhi for a bit, as if he was trying to process what was going on. He then looked underneath the white blanket that was covering him waist down and after a few confused moments, his eyes grew wide. He let out a short scream before scrambling off the bed and onto the floor, bring the blanket that was still around his waist with him.

"What the fuck!" He shouted as he untangled his legs from the sheets, keeping it tight around his waist as he stood up. "You're naked! I'm naked! What the fuck is going on?!"

"I-I don't know." Haruhi stuttered out. She tightened the covers around herself before she spoke again. "Please tell me we didn't do what it looks like we did." Hikaru looked around the room, seeing all the half-empty bottles of alcohol and empty snack bags on the floor. His eyes then widened as if he suddenly remembered something and faced towards Haruhi with an expression that was a mixture of fear and confusion, which confirmed Haruhi's fear. "I have to go."

"Wait Haruhi," Hikaru practically begged as he watched her look for her clothes, "please can we talk about this?"

"Talk about what?!" Haruhi shouted at him as she grew angry, causing him to flinch. "About how we both got fucking drunk last night and slept together?!" Her eyes then widened as if she came into realization about something and then glared at Hikaru. "You probably planned this didn't you?!"

"What?!"

"You saw that I was upset about Tamaki senpai and thought I would be an easy target. You took advantage of me so I would sleep with you. God, I should've fucking listened to Tamaki when he warned me about the shit you do!"

"Excuse me?!" Hikaru hissed, obviously offended by what she accused him of. "You really think that _'I'_ , who has a fucking abusive, alcoholic mother, would purposely buy alcohol for you to drown your sorrows in because your pathetic piece of shit boyfriend cheated on you?!" His expression then turned from furious to hurt. "Do you really think that I would be so open about my home life and everything else about myself if all I wanted to do was sleep with you? I really thought we were friends."

Haruhi's glare soon fell as well as she felt a huge wave of guilt washed over her. She knew that he wasn't like that. She was just trying to blame him for everything instead of herself because she didn't want to admit that she was in the wrong. He didn't want to drink and tried to get her to stop, but instead of listening to him she pressured him into drinking with her, knowing that alcohol was the cause of most of his problems in his life. Also if he did just try to get her to sleep with him he wouldn't be acting remorseful or wouldn't have gotten angry when she accused him of it. He would've been arrogant and cocky and say something on the lines of _"I thought I made it clear during our relationship what I wanted,"_ or _"You should have listened to the rumors about me."_ But instead of being a cocky asshole, he looked just like she did when he figured out what happened, surprised and horrified. She was just using him as a scapegoat for the actions that happened last night, even though it was clearly mostly her fault.

She looked away from him, using her bangs to cover up the tears that were welding up in her eyes.

"I'm sorry I…" She swallowed the lump in her throat so her tears wouldn't escape. "Could you please leave. I need to get changed."

"Haruhi…"

She found his pants on the floor and picked them up before throwing on the bed in front of him. "Please, just leave…"

Hikaru just remained where he was for a few seconds before grabbing his pants off the bed and made his way to the bathroom. As she heard the door close behind him she finally let her tears fall. From seeing her boyfriend kissing another girl and her drunkenly sleeping with Hikaru, it was all too much for her. She also hurt Hikaru and betrayed Tamaki in the process because she just wanted to forget that shitty night. Even though she caught Tamaki kissing another girl, what she did was far worse that no one should ever do in a committed relationship...she slept with someone else. Her and Tamaki have never been that intimate before, she would be lying if she said he's never tried to take it a step further, but she thought that he was taking it too fast for her liking. They've been dating for only four months and hadn't even thought about sleeping with him until maybe a couple years into their relationship, but here she was, naked in a hotel room with Hikaru after a night of drunken sex…

Haruhi wiped the tears from her eyes and began searching for her clothes that were scattered around the room. She found her clothes in different sections of the small room, as well as Hikaru's dress shirt and suit jacket. She tried not to think about how her clothes ended up so far from each other and picked them all up before putting them on. After many failed attempts she finally zipped up the back of her dress then began making her way towards the door. Hikaru must've heard her because the door to the bathroom opened and he called out to her.

"Haruhi, please wait." He pleaded as he caught up to her and grabbed her arm for her to stop as she had her hand on the door handle. "Can we please just talk about this?"

Haruhi's grip on the door handle tightened as she tried not to let anymore tears fall. "No…" She whispered. "I can't…" Hikaru slowly released her arm out of his grip and she could feel the sadness in his eyes as he stared at her. For the next few seconds they were silent, an awkward feeling filling the air around them until Haruhi finally broke the silence. "I think you should find another tutor Hikaru."

And with that, she opened the door and left the room, but she didn't make it that far before Hikaru called out for her again, making her stop.

"Haruhi please don't do this." He pleaded, his voice sounding like he was on the verge of tears as well. "I'm sorry, it was stupid of me to bring you here but please don't do this. If you leave the chairman will expel me."

"I'm sorry," Haruhi whispered, loud enough for him to hear, "but I can't do this." She then began walking down the hallway as fast as she could.

"Haruhi please!"

She could hear in his voice that he was crying, which caused tears to begin rolling down her face again as she continued walking down the hall, leaving the motel.

* * *

 **Hikaru**

I had my back against the door as I slowly closed it then slid down to the floor. I just stared out in the room as my vision grew blurry with tears. Did I just ruin our friendship? I wanted to try and comfort her like she did when I was having a hard time. I didn't plan on sleeping with her, and now because of my stupid fucking decision I most likely lost the only person, who wasn't Kaoru, that I cared about. The only person that I loved...and now she wanted nothing to do with me. She doesn't even want to tutor me. God, I really fucked up. Once Yuzuru finds out that I've gotten Haruhi to quit he's definitely going to expel me and once that information gets passed on to mom that I've been expelled she was definitely going to kill me...literally…

I suddenly felt my stomach churn in an uneasy way and felt something travel up my throat. I tried to swallow it back down but my attempt was futile and my eyes widened as I covered my mouth before getting up and running over to the bathroom. I almost didn't make it in time but luckily I was able to make it to the toilet faster as I practically threw myself on the floor in front of it.

I didn't know if it was from nerves of the thoughts of being expelled or from the nasty hangover I had but my stomach felt horrible. Once my stomach finally emptied itself I coughed and wiped the side of my mouth with my hand. I felt too weak to get up and laid my head on my arm that I had over the toilet bowl, the churning in my stomach not even close to settling. I finally did lift my head when I felt a vibration in my pants pocket, I must've left my phone in there. I took my phone out and almost came to puking again when I saw the word _'Mom'_ , on the screen. Fuck, I forgot to tell her I wasn't coming home last night. She's going to be beyond livid. I gulped before answering the phone and placing it to my ear.

"H-Hey mom."

"Where the fuck are you?!" She barked, causing my headache to worsen by how loud she was. "I wake up to find that you were still gone! The Yoshido's are supposed to come over in fifteen minutes for lunch. What am I supposed to tell them when they see that you're not here, _'I'm sorry but my worthless son stayed out all night partying instead of listening to his mother and come back home at the curfew I gave him!'_ Do you know what they'll think of us if I tell them that shit Hikaru?!"

"I'm sorry, I ate something bad at the party and got sick." I lied. "Kyoya thought it would be the best to-"

"I don't want to hear your bull shit excuse Hikaru!" She hissed harshly. "If you're not here in the next thirty minutes I swear to God Hikaru I'll take you out of this world in a heartbeat, do you understand?!"

I gulped again as I felt my body began trembling far worse than it was before. "Yes mom, I'm on my way home now."

"Good," she hissed again, "we'll discuss what your punishment will be later!"

She then hung up the phone. I just listened to the beep on the other line for a few more seconds before finally hanging up the phone then looked at the time, it was 11:45. I had to be home by 12:15. If Haruhi lives close to here then it would take me about fifteen to twenty minutes to get home.

I flushed the toilet before slowly getting up and staggered out of the bathroom. I found my shirt and suit jacket on the floor and put them on in a hurry, not caring if it looked neat. I checked the time on my phone and saw that it was now 11:53, shit it took me eight minutes to just put my fucking shirt on.

I looked around the room and saw how big of a mess it was. I felt bad that I had to leave it this way but I had no other choice. I made sure to leave the maid a generous tip on the dresser then grabbed the key cards to the rooms before leaving and making my way to the front desk to turn them in.

The employee who greeted us last night was still there and once she took the key cards from me she looked at one of them for a few seconds then a smirk appeared on her face, but I didn't really notice it at first because I was trying to calm down the throbbing headache that I had.

"You're free to go." She said. I just nodded and began making my way towards the exit when she called something out again. "Have a nice day Hikaru."

I stopped in my tracks and looked over my shoulder at her. How did she know my name? I didn't give it to her last night so how...

I then finally noticed the smirk on her face and it all clicked in my brain and my face grew scarlet. I turned back around and left the motel then hurried over to my car.

 _Fuck, if my mom doesn't kill me, I'll probably just do it myself._

* * *

I pulled up to my house and parked before killing the engine. I groaned as I leaned back in my seat, trying to reduce the headache that I still had, but it was pretty hard to with my back burning. I didn't know why but about halfway through the car ride my back started slightly burning. Then with each passing minute it just grew more and more painful and now it felt like it was on fire.

I turned my car back on a few more minutes, letting the cold air from the air conditioning hit my face to try and make me feel better so I wouldn't puke again. Just like my back, about halfway through the car ride, my stomach began feeling awful again, almost to the point where I pulled over a couple times but luckily I didn't have to.

As the cool air blew on my face I tried to think of anything else by wanting to vomit, but it grew harder and harder as I felt my mouth start to grow hot and something felt like it was trying to travel up my throat. I soon gave up the fight of trying to swallow it back and unbuckled my seatbelt before opening my car door and just puked right out in the street.

"Fuck," I groaned as I wiped my mouth once I was finished, "how does mom deal with this every day?"

I got back into my car and took out the keys from the ignition before getting out and making my way to the front door.

As I opened the door I immediately heard laughter coming from the dining room. I really just wanted to go to my room and try to sleep this hangover off, but I knew that if I didn't prove to my mom that I made it home on time she would be angry. I made my way to the dining room and everyone look towards my direction when I walked into the room. The smile immediately left my mother's face and was replaced with a glare when she noticed my messy appearance. I had a fucking massive hangover so I didn't bother seeing if I looked good or not. I didn't even plan on staying here after I greeted everybody. Hopefully mom would see how bad I looked and actually let me go to my room.

"What happened to you? Did you get hit by a bus on the way home?" Isao joke, which I just responded to with a glare.

"I told mom over the phone I got sick at Kyoya's party and spent the night there. I was just going to greet everyone before going to bed."

"Hikaru don't be rude." Mom said in her fake cheerful voice. "You have to sit down and join us for lunch."

"But mom, I really don't feel good."

"Sit down in the chair Hikaru." She demanded in a slightly harsher tone, but still had the smile on her face.

I sighed and listened to mom's orders and sat down in the only empty seat, which was unfortunately next to Mari. She smirked at me as I sat down and scooted a bit closer to me.

"I'm not in the mood Mari." I grumbled as I rubbed my temples.

She chuckled. "Not handling the hangover well, huh?" She whispered so I could only hear her.

I looked over at her wide eyed. "Wait, how did you-"

"I can smell it off of you." She answered, she then leaned closer to me and it began making me uncomfortable. "I know a great way to get rid of a nasty hangover." She purred.

I glared at her. "Mari, I really don't want to deal with your-"

"Coffee."

"...Huh?"

"Coffee and sleep are great ways to get rid of hangovers. Trust me."

"Uh...thanks I guess."

"No problem." Her smirk then returned to her face. "I also wouldn't want to have fun with you while you're hungover. Wouldn't be fun when you're in so much pain you can't do anything."

I scowled at her as I felt her place her hand on my knee and I quickly took her hand off of my leg. "Fuck off." I hissed, which she just sniggered to.

For the rest of the lunch, she didn't really make any more advances at me, which I was glad about. Though I could see in her eyes that she really wanted to. However, she did keep trying to touch me with her foot in a flirtatious way, which I would just respond by kicking her away but soon gave up once my headache grew worse.

I thanked God once it was time for them to leave. Mari gave me a flirtatious wave as she left, which I just responded with another scowl, but she didn't seem to notice. Once they left I turned to leave to go to my room, but as I began to make my way up the stairs mom grabbed my arm.

"Where do you think you're going?" She hissed.

I gulped, seeing the fire in her eyes. I totally forgot about the punishment she said she was going to give me for not coming home last night.

"I-I'm going to my room." I stuttered out. "I don't feel very well."

"You really think that I'm that stupid to buy that excuse?"

She then tugged my arm, so I was away from the stairs, but from how my feet were positioned I fell back, landing on the small table that was against the wall before falling on the floor. It then felt as if something sharp pierced my left arm. I brought my other hand to where the pain was and gasped when as my fingers brushed against what felt like glass was sticking out of my arm. My jacket felt wet around it and I brought my hand up to my face and saw that it was red from where I held my arm. I looked around me and saw shattered pieces of what once was a vase was now on the floor. When I fell on the table I must've landed on the vase that we had on it.

"Fuck." I hissed as I grabbed my arm again, feeling tears began to trail down my face from the pain. "Shit."

I heard mom's footsteps coming up in front of me and I looked up at her petrified as she glowered down at me.

"Now look what you fucking did!" She barked. "Not only did you disobey me last night by not coming home but now you broke a vase that I got from one of my designer friends!"

"I'm-I'm sorry. I didn't mean to break it. I just wanted to go to bed."

"Well, instead of going to bed you're going to clean this shit up while Isao and I go to the studio for a few hours so I can finish some of the designs for my upcoming line."

I just stared at her wide eyed as I watched her grab her coat. "Wa-Wait mom, you can't leave me here like this. I have to go to a doctor so they can fix my arm."

"You're fine Hikaru, stop complaining." Mom grumbled as she handed Isao the keys to the car so he could start it up while she finished getting ready. "You don't need to see a doctor."

"But mom my arm is bleeding badly and I need to get the piece of the vase out"

"Hikaru, you're fine."

"But mom-"

"I said you're fine!" Her hand then came into contact with my face, silencing me. "You are seventeen years old, stop complaining about getting hurt and grow the fuck up!"

"I'm sorry…" I quietly cried, not turning back to face her. "I'm sorry…"

"Now get this all cleaned up." She grumbled, kicking some of the broken shards closers to me. "If I see one speck of this vase on the floor when I get home I swear I'll give you something to cry about. You got that?!"

I nodded, not saying anything else as mom finished getting ready and left the house. As I heard the front door close I just remained where I was. I soon couldn't hold back my tears any longer. I held my hurt arm closer to me and let out all the emotion I was feeling at that moment. It just turned into the afternoon and everything was already unbearable to live through. I just wanted to disappear from this fucking awful world and go somewhere where I don't have to live like this...but I knew that was impossible.

I looked down at my arm and saw that blood was now trailing down to my hand and was beginning to drip on the floor. I had to get my arm patched up and clean the blood off the floor before it stained the wood. I pulled myself together the best I could and slowly got up, using my good arm as support so I wouldn't fall back down and then once I was standing I made my way to the bathroom. I closed the door and locked it, just in case mom forgot something and came back to see I was gone. I began rummaging through the cabinets and drawers trying to find the small first aid kit that Kaoru and I hid a few years back when this nightmare first started. We've used it when mom hurt us pretty badly, but not enough for us to go to the hospital.

After minutes of searching, I finally found it in the cabinet underneath the sink and took it out along with a bottle of rubbing alcohol. I opened the first aid kit and took out bandage wraps and a wound dressing. I then slowly took off my suit jacket, taking my right arm out first so I could just let the jacket slip off my arm without hurting it any further. I could clearly see the shard in my upper arm, surrounded by the blood that the sleeve of my dress shirt soaked up. Just by looking at it, it didn't look too deep. Probably because of the thick material of my suit jacket it helped stop the shard going in deeper. I slowly took off my dress shirt, hissing as the shirt hooked onto the shard, but luckily I was able to get the sleeve off without much trouble. Once my shirt was off I grabbed an old towel that we never used and placed it over the sink counter where my arm was held so blood wouldn't go everywhere. I gulped and grabbed onto the shard. I knew that it was going to fucking hurt so I wanted to take it out as fast as possible, but I couldn't go too fast in risk of hurting myself further.

"I can do this," I told myself as I got a hold of the shard, "if I can handle mom stabbing me last year I can handle this." I took a deep breath and with a quick movement I got the shard of vase out of my arm and threw it into the sink. "Fuck!"

I didn't have enough time to rest to let the pain settle for a bit because my arm was bleeding badly, so I swallowed back the pain the best I could before reaching for the rubbing alcohol. I dabbed a portion of the towel with the alcohol and soaked another portion with water.

Cleaning the wound was the worth part. The pain was about ten times worse than taking out the actual shard that it caused me to feel light headed, accompanied with me saying all the curse words that I knew, even in different languages. Finally when the wound was cleaned I grabbed the dressing and bandage wraps and securely wrapped up the wound the best I could so it wouldn't bleed.

As I finished adjusting the bandage I noticed pink claw like marks on my shoulder that were going in a horizontal direction. Just looking at the scratches brought back the burning pain I felt on my back earlier today. Could this have something to do with it?

I turned around so my back was facing the mirror and saw multiple pink scratches going along either side of my back. Did this happen last night when we…

I bit my lip as I faced away from the mirror, feeling tears welled up in my eyes again. I really wanted to talk to her, to apologize to her and talk about what happened with mom so she could help me feel better...like she always did. I took out my phone and dialed up Haruhi, but instead of hearing ringing on the other end it just went to the answering machine. Was her phone turned off? She said she now usually keeps it close to her just in case I wanted to talk to her.

I didn't bother leaving a voicemail and was tempted to try and text her, but there was really no point if she wouldn't pick up.

With a sad sigh, I began to clean up all the mess in the bathroom and living room the best I could so mom wouldn't get even more upset if she found any shard of the vase or drops of my blood anywhere. Once everything was cleaned up I felt the headache from my hangover return and I decided I would follow Mari's advice and make some coffee and sleep it off. Which sadly was the best part of this shitty day.

* * *

I was awoken by the sound of the incoming Skype call coming from my laptop. I slowly opened my eyes and immediately felt all the pain that I was feeling today hit me like a train. With a groan I slowly sat up so I wouldn't hurt myself and grabbed my laptop before answering the Skype call.

"Hey." Kaoru greeted with a smile.

"Hey…" I greeted back in a low grumble as I turned down the volume a bit so my head wouldn't hurt as much, but I did feel a lot better than a few hours ago.

Kaoru's smile fell when he got a good look at my appearance. "God, you look awful."

"Thanks that makes me feel a thousand times better than I already do."

"What happened?"

"I went to Kyoya's party last night and I got sick." I lied. "I must've eaten something bad because I got really sick within a couple hours of the party."

"That doesn't really sound like that would happen at a party Kyoya would throw. He makes sure that everything is perfect and safe. From the food down to the decorations."

"Well, I guess this time he didn't check well enough." I said as I reached over and grabbed my cup of coffee that I still had on my nightstand. It was cold now, but I really didn't feel like going downstairs and making a fresh batch. I noticed Kaoru's expression when I took a drink and cocked an eyebrow. "What?"

"What are you drinking?"

"Coffee, why do you ask?"

"Why are you drinking coffee when you have an upset stomach?" He questioned. "You know that it'll only make it worse...unless…" His suspicious glare turned furious, which actually sent a chill down my spine. "You have a fucking hangover, don't you?"

"What, no...I…"

"I thought we made a pledge to never drink because of what it did to mom?!"

"I can explain." I said, which caused Kaoru's glare to harden. He probably thought I was going to say a bull shit excuse, like how people had drinks at the party and I thought one couldn't hurt and because one didn't affect me I had more. I let out a sigh. "I went to Kyoya's party only because Haruhi was there and within the first hour of the party we caught Tamaki kissing another girl."

"Wait, really?" Kaoru asked shocked. "I wouldn't even imagine Tono doing such a thing. Yeah, he flirted with other women but he only truly meant it when he flirted with Haruhi...or that's what I thought, but what does that have to do with you getting drunk?"

"Well, because Haruhi was upset I offered that we go somewhere for the night because I knew her father would be too overwhelming for her, and I didn't want to go home so-"

"Wait, why wouldn't you want to go home?" Kaoru asked.

That's right, I forgot Kaoru doesn't know that mom has relapsed because I didn't want him to worry about me while he was on his trip to New York. I wanted him to enjoy his trip, not trying to find a flight home or counting down the days for the trip to be over because he was worried about me.

"I just didn't want to leave her alone when she was an over emotional wreck." I lied. "I was just worried about her."

"Alright, if you say so…" He said, not really sounding convinced that I was telling the full truth. "Then what happened?"

"So, because I let her choose where we would go we went to a motel." I could see the disgust on Kaoru's face, which caused a small chuckle to escape my lips. "I know, but she wanted to go there. Anyways, because she was such a wreck I decided to get her some food and non-alcoholic drinks to make her feel better, but one of my bags got switched with another customer's who was buying alcohol. I was going to return them but Haruhi started to drink and I tried to stop her but she convinced me to drink with her, which now I guess we both regret."

"Well, I'm glad that you two regret it now and won't do something fucking stupid like masking your sorrows in alcohol again." He sighed before laying his hand in his head. "I still can't believe Tono would do something like that. It feels like I don't even know him anymore. Haruhi must be crushed."

"Um, there's also something else that happened." I said as I looked down and ran my finger along the top of my coffee cup, a red blush on my cheeks.

"What happened?"

I bit my lip as the blush on my face grew darker. I moved my eyes up to look back up at him. "Haruhi and I slept together…"

Kaoru didn't reply right away, he just blinked a few times as if he was trying to process what I just told him. "Wait...so you and Haruhi slept together?"

"Yes."

"Like intercourse? Not just sleeping in the same bed together type of sleeping together?"

"Yes."

"Like fornication?"

"Yes."

"Like you put your-"

"Oh my God! Yes, we had sex!" I snapped, my face dark red.

Kaoru just remained confused. "How did that happen?"

"I don't know." I grumbled as I put my face in my hands. "We were drunk and I guess because she was upset she tried coping her feelings through me, which I guess drunk me let her do."

"But what if you two didn't actually do anything?"

"Huh?"

"Think about it." Kaoru said. "You two were drunk and don't remember anything. You two could've passed out before anything happened."

"We were both naked when we woke up."

"That doesn't necessarily mean you two had sex. When people are drunk they do stupid shit. You two could've just taken off your clothes because you thought it was too hot or something stupid like that."

"Stupid like having drunk sex with the girl you like because she was upset her piece of shit of a boyfriend cheated on her?"

"Or, just got naked for a stupid reason because drunk people do stupid shit."

"Well, I think the scratched on my back will prove you wrong."

"Scratches?"

I twisted around a bit so a portion of my back was visible on camera. I looked over my shoulder to see his expression, which was complete and utter shock.

"Maybe there's a different reason how you got them." He said as I faced him again.

"Please enlighten me."

"Maybe you, uh...maybe…" He sighed in defeat as he put his head back in his hand. "I got nothing. Unless you got attacked by a hoard of angry raccoons, there is no other evidence that those scratches weren't from Haruhi." He moved his eyes so he was looking into mine. "I have a feeling it didn't end well when you two woke up."

"Is it that obvious?"

"Well, by the way you guys ended up sleeping together and how you're acting right now it's kinda hard not to know...How do you feel about the situation?"

"Bad," I sighed sadly, "just thinking about that if I denied her offer to drink none of this would have happened."

"It's not fully your fault Hikaru." Kaoru said, trying to make me feel better, but sadly it didn't. "She convinced you to drink with her. Yes, you should've denied her offer and have just returned the bottles, but it's not fully your fault."

"Well, she seems to think it is." I sighed sadly again as I began tracing the cap of my coffee cup again.

"What do you mean?"

"When we both woke up she yelled at me, saying that what Tamaki warned her about me was true and that I planned on getting her drunk so I could sleep with her."

"She can't really believe that, can she?" Kaoru asked. "I mean she's been your friend for about a month and a half but you two have gotten really close. She should know who you really are at this point and not the mean person that you portray as at school."

I just shrugged my shoulders sadly. "I thought she really knew who I was too, but I guess I was wrong."

"Hikaru…"

"I'm going to get going. My head is killing me and I just want to go to sleep."

"Alright, I'll talk to you tomorrow," he said, which I responded with a nod, "and try to make things better with Haruhi. I know how much you care about her and I don't want to see your friendship be broken over a stupid mistake that you guys made."

"I'll try…"

We said our goodbyes and both signed off. I moved my laptop off my bed before turning off the lights and getting under the covers. Even though my back was still in pain, I just ignored it as I laid on my back and looked up at the ceiling as blurry memories of what happened last night began to fill my mind. I didn't remember everything, but I remember how soft her hands were when they traveled down my abdomen, and how her lips felt amazing against mine when we kissed, and the way she moaned my name when we…

I covered my face with my hands as a dark blushed warmed my face again as I flipped over on my side, laying in almost a fetal position as if I was trying to hide from everything that happened, and thought about anything else in a desperate attempt to distract my lower anatomy.

Tomorrow was going to be fucking difficult. I just knew it.

* * *

I was sitting at my desk, chewing on my pen anxiously. I woke up earlier than usual today so I could come to school early so I had enough time to apologize to Haruhi and try to get her to keep being my tutor and friend, but as I got to the classroom she wasn't there. It made me worry that she wasn't going to show up today. Hangovers last only one day, mine was completely gone, so if she did miss today it was most likely her trying to avoid me. I really needed to talk to her so we could remain friends. I didn't want to lose the only friend that I had at this school from a stupid mistake.

I looked over towards the door for the umpteenth time that morning to see if Haruhi was here yet. I let out a low growl when I didn't see her in the group of students that just walked in, but as I was about to look away she finally walked into the classroom behind a group of girls. Our eyes immediately locked, but only for a few seconds before she shamefully looked away. I continued to watch her as she made her way to her desk next to me. I looked around us to make sure no one was in earshot of us before leaning in close to her.

"Haruhi, can we please talk about yesterday?" I asked.

"I don't want to talk about it Hikaru." She replied as she began getting her supplies out.

"Please, I just want to work things out with you."

"Hika-"

"Look I'm sorry. I shouldn't have offered to take you to that motel. I should've just taken you home."

"Hika-"

"Just please don't-"

"I already talked to Mr. Suoh." She said, causing me to grow silent. She still didn't look at me once, too ashamed from what happened yesterday. "I'm sorry, I just can't do this anymore."

It felt as if my heart shattered into a million pieces. Did she...just end our friendship? The only friend that I had who cared about me and worried about me now wanted nothing to do with me, because of a stupid mistake?

I leaned away from her and tried to swallow back tears that I felt wanting to burst out.

"Alright," I said softly, trying not to let my voice crack, "if that's what you want."

Haruhi didn't say anything and just finished getting everything out for class. For the whole lesson I couldn't concentrate. I was feeling too down about Haruhi and nervous about the meeting I knew Mr. Suoh wanted to most likely expel me. Mom was literally going to kill me, and if she didn't kill me, she would horrifically wound me. I knew that for a fact...and it terrified me.

I jumped when I heard the teacher's desk phone ring and watched nervously as Mr. Hirota stop the lesson and answer the phone. After a few seconds of listening to the other person on the line, he looked over towards me before hanging up the phone.

"Mr. Hitachiin, Mr. Suoh would like to speak with you in his office, and he instructed that you take your bag."

I gulped before giving him a nod and began packing up my supplies. After I zipped up my bag I got up and began making my way towards the door. Ignoring all the stares and whispers from the other students. However, the only stare that I caught was Haruhi's as I left the room.

* * *

 **Hey guys, thanks for waiting for this update. I did plan to update this last week but I was too busy with school and the two other stories that I'm writing at the same time. I really didn't know a rewrite would take up as much time as it is, but I don't mind as long as that story looks better than the older crappier vision.**

 **I hope all my fellow American's had a great Thanksgiving, this can be your gift, if you're not American, Happy earlier Christmas.**

 **Please Favorite, Follow and Review.-HH1957**


	15. Chapter 15

I bit my nails nervously as I sat in a chair, waiting for Mr. Suoh to call me into his office. I was told to wait for him while he finished up lecturing a student from class D. I usually was never nervous when I was sent to the office, I was always smug and didn't care about whatever punishment he was going to give me because of my actions, but I was never worried about getting expelled. It never crossed my mind that all the shit I have done could actually get me thrown out of this school, I should've known from Ouran being the most prestigious school in the country that they wouldn't put up with it, but it just never crossed my mind because I was too worried about Kaoru's safety more than my own.

The only sounds the filled the quiet room were the typing on the keyboards and the ticking of the clock on the wall, which actually was making more nervous by the sound of the time passing. I was terrified, not from being expelled, even though it would greatly affect my school records, but I was scared about going home after the meeting. I knew the punishment was going to be brutal. It wasn't going to be the usual yelling and hitting that I'm used to receiving but far worse. I subconsciously moved my hand to my scar over on my lower left abdomen as I anxiously thought anout what will happen tonight.

My eyes immediately shot over towards Mr. Suoh's office when I heard it open and saw the student from class D storm out. Oh shit, it was my turn now. My heart began beating hard in my chest and I could literally feel my body sweat in terror as I saw Mr. Suoh walked out of his office and held the door open as he stared at me, telling me silently that it was now time for our meeting. I gulped and got up from my seat before heading into his office and sitting down in one of the chairs in front of his desk.

He sat down in his chair and laced his fingers together as he stared at me with a stern glare. I tried my best to keep my composure, trying not to let him see that I was petrified, but with each passing second, it was growing harder and harder as he continued to stare at me.

"You know why you're here, don't you Mr. Hitachiin?" I nodded, not looking up at him as I looked down at my hands.

"Yes sir…" I responded in almost a whisper.

"I told you when I assigned you a tutor that if you didn't take this seriously I would expel you, and by seeing that your tutor has quit it looks like you haven't been taking this seriously at all." I clenched my hands into fists as I prepared myself for the words _'you're expelled'_ to come out of his mouth, but they never did. "However," he said, causing me to look back up at him, "by what Miss Fujioka has told me, you have actually been cooperating with her, and by how your grades are improving it seems as if you actually have been taking these sessions more seriously than I thought." He smiled at me as he leaned back in his chair. "I'll tell you the truth Hikaru, I never thought I would see the day where you're no longer getting into pointless fights and finally ditching that leather jacket most days for the school uniform. Whatever Miss Fujioka did to change you, I have to say she's a miracle worker." His smile then fell and his serious expression returned. "But what I don't understand is why she suddenly decided to quit if she had nothing but good things to say about you whenever I talked to her. She even said that you two have become friends. Was there a falling out recently?"

"Yeah, I guess you can say that?" I mumbled sadly, avoiding eye contact as a small blush tinted my cheeks as I remembered what Haruhi and I did only a couple nights ago.

"Would you like to tell me what happened? I might be able to fix your guys relationship if I do."

I didn't respond to him as I laid my head on my knuckles, staring at the wall instead of him. What was I even going to say? _'Haruhi and I caught your son cheating on her and we then got drunk and slept together, so that's why she wants nothing to do with me anymore.'_ Yeah, that'll go over well.

He sighed at my silence. "Alright." He leaned forward so his elbows could rest on the desk. "I'm not going to expel you Hikaru."

I looked at him in shock. "You're not?"

"No, Miss Fujioka specifically asked me not to expel you, and since I saw the major improvement these past two months in both your grades and attitude, I agreed."

 _I'm not going to be expelled?_

I could feel the smile itching my lips, but I wouldn't let myself show how relieved that I was, but in reality, I was so happy that I actually wanted to cry from not being expelled and having to face my mom's wrath, and it was all thanks to...Haruhi. She may hate me now, but it felt good to know that she still cared about me after what happened between us.

"However," Mr. Suoh said, causing me to break out of my thought, "since your old tutor left, we had to find you a new one. Luckily it wasn't that hard to get them to agree but I heard that you have a history of teasing him quite a bit."

I forwarded my eyebrows in confusion. I've never teased anyone, granted I was a far cry from being the nicest kid in the school, but I wasn't some elementary school bully.

"Who is it?"

"Kazukiyo Soga."

...Ok, maybe I did tease him a bit when we were younger, but not anymore. He was terrified of me shitless ever since he saw me beat the shit out of our classmate in middle school, so why him of all people would want to tutor me? He would most likely just say all my answers are correct because he would be too terrified of what I might do to him if he said I was wrong.

"I don't understand." I finally spoke up. "Why would Kazukiyo of all people agree to be my tutor if he's terrified of me?"

"He only agreed to it because I promised you would be nice to him and not hurt or threaten him. If I get complaints that you are being rude to him I'll give you a warning to get your act together, but if it continues," he made a small slice motion with his hand, "you're finished and you'll immediately be expelled. You got that?"

I gulped and nodded. "Yes sir."

"Great, you'll be meeting him today in the library after school at the same time as before." He smiled at me again, almost as if he was a proud father. "I have to say that I'm actually proud of you Hikaru. Your personality and attitude almost did a complete 180. You've still gone certain places to improve on, but you're not that shitty arrogant kid that was sitting in that chair every week a couple months ago. Hopefully, this improvement continues."

I didn't know why, but it actually felt really good to hear him say that he was proud of me. Maybe it was because I haven't heard it from my own mother in a long time or my dad since he's been missing, but it actually made me want to at least try to improve myself more...but I don't know how hard it would be without Haruhi…

* * *

Haruhi completely ignored me once I made it to our second-period class. She wouldn't even look my way and just paid attention to the teacher's every word, just like she did before we became friends. It was painful for me not to talk to her or playfully tease her like I usually did. I tried my best to pay attention to the lesson to get my mind off of Haruhi, but I just couldn't. All I could think about was her and how much I just wanted to talk to her and feel her touch.

When lunchtime finally came I just left the room without waiting for Haruhi to get out her lunch like I usually did. I just went to the lunch line and waited my turn to order. I looked over towards the Host Club's table when I heard laughter from female students and saw the members were there entertaining female guests, but without Haruhi, which I wasn't surprised by. None of the club members seemed to mind her absence, probably because today was usually one of the days she would have lunch with me. I glared darkly at Tamaki as I saw him laugh at what a female student just told him. He was such a fucking flirt that it was sickening to watch, and he most likely didn't care who saw, which is why he's openly flirting right this second.

"Next."

My glare fell and I looked forward to see that it was my turn to order. I walked up to one of the waiting chiefs and ordered what I usually did before handing him my debit card. He swiped the card and a small buzzing noise that I never heard before came from the computer.

"Your card has been declined." The chief said as he handed me back my card.

I looked at my card confused before looking back up at the chief. That can't be possible, the last time I checked I had a shit ton of money left, and I didn't spend any Saturday night so there was no way all my money was gone. "Can you try again, I think the computer must've read my card wrong."

The chief did as I asked and swiped my card again, but it only resulted in the same buzzing noise.

"Nope sorry, your card still isn't going through." He said as he gave me my debit card back. "If you would like you could pay for your meal in cash."

I didn't know if I had enough cash on me to pay for lunch. After buying two motel rooms, the snacks and drinks Haruhi wanted, and the big tip that I left the maid I didn't know how much money I had left. After I put my card away I looked in the section of my wallet where I kept my cash and saw that I only had a twenty dollar bill, great...That wouldn't even pay for half of my meal.

"Can you hurry up please?" A student complained.

I glowered over at them darkly, which caused him to hide back within the line once he noticed that it was me. I huffed before pocketing my wallet.

"Forget it." I grumbled before walking away from the line and out of the dining hall.

I took my time as I made my way to the courtyard where I usually ate lunch at. I went to shove my hands in my pockets as I walked down the hall but hissed as I felt a sharp pain in my left arm from bending it. I carefully felt around where the wound was to make sure the wound hasn't reopened, which luckily it didn't. I had to change the dressing this morning because it almost bled through the bandage when I woke up, but I was able to slow down the bleeding enough to bandage it up again. I really hoped that it'll heal properly on its own, but by how deep the shard went in my arm I'm not fully sure that it will, and with my card for some reason not working I wouldn't be able to get it stitched up. I sighed as I walked out to the courtyard but as I turned the corner to where I usually sat I immediately saw Haruhi, who had turned the corner opposite of me. We stared at each other for a few moments in silence before Haruhi turned away.

"Sorry," she said in a weak voice, "I forgot that this is your spot."

"Wait, Haruhi…" I tried to call out to her as she began walking away, reaching my hand out towards her, but my voice was quieter then I wanted it.

She either didn't hear me or just ignored me as she continued to walk away and turn the corner. I let my arm slowly fall back to my side once she was gone and let out a sigh as I leaned my back on the wall, sliding down to the grass. I stared out into the courtyard, seeing other students with their significant other's or group of friends, causing my chest to hurt seeing how happy they all were. This was why I didn't want any friends. All that ever happened whenever I had a friendship with someone, it always ended up burning to ashes. The first friends that Kaoru and I ever had were the Host Club, but that friendship ended in shit for me.

After the shit that happened with the Host Club, I didn't go out of my way to make friends, but there were some people who I did grow a liking to. I wanted nothing more than just being friends but some of the girls I tried to be friends with thought I was making a pass at them because I was being nice or some would try to take advantage of me to take them out on dates or get me to buy them items. At first, I gave in to their requests and did almost whatever they asked, but once I found out that they didn't want to be my friends and just wanted to use me I instantly dropped the friendship. As for the guys, it was a different story. Either they were terrified of me or put their guard up whenever I was around, which made it extremely difficult to make friends, so I soon gave up trying.

"Now why is a handsome guy like you sitting all by yourself?"

I growled at the sound of their voice. Of course, this day just keeps getting better and better.

"What the fuck do you want Mari?" I grumbled as I glared up at her.

She sat down on the grass beside me and smiled, which caused my glare to harden. "I saw you sitting here all by yourself and you looked so lonely. So, I thought it would be best if I sat with you so you wouldn't feel as lonely, and who knows," her smile turned flirtatious and she ran her fingers along my right arm, sending an unpleasant shiver down my spine, "maybe we can get to know more about each other." She purred.

"I'd rather die alone and be tortured in Hell then hang out with you." I hissed as I went to get up.

But before I was able to fully stand up, Mari grabbed my arm and forced me back down, causing me to gasp out when my injured arm hit the wall behind me once I was back down. Mari hugged my arm to my chest and put her head on my shoulder, but I was in too much pain to care at the moment.

"Come on," she pouted, "I know we started off on the wrong foot, but I really want to be your friend. Believe it or not, but I have a lot of trouble making friends."

"Oh, I can believe it." I grimaced in pain.

"You're step-dad also promised my parents that you would accompany me at school until I was fully settled into school. You can't back down on his promise."

I scowled at her and was about to tell her I didn't give a fuck what Isao promised her parents and I didn't owe them shit, but the sight of her lunch halted me from doing so. I was starving. I hadn't had a real meal since two days ago. I was too hungover to eat anything yesterday and I was in too much of a rush to have any breakfast this morning, and now with my card for some reason not working, I couldn't get any lunch. Mari's lunch wasn't one of the items that I particularly liked, but I was so hungry that I would literally almost eat anything.

Mari followed my gaze and when she saw that I was staring at her lunch an evil smirk spread across her face. She put her head back on my shoulder and hugged my arm tighter to her chest.

"How about this? If you spend the rest of the day with me I'll give you some of my lunch. Do we have a deal?"

I really wanted to refuse her deal, but just the look and smell of her lunch almost made my mouth water. It was roasted chicken breast with a small side salad and roll. It wasn't the best meal here, but right now it smelled so fucking good. But was it really worth spending the rest of the day with her? It was already halfway through the day, so I wouldn't have to deal with her for that long.

Finally, I gave in and took the roll from her lunch tray and began eating it while she whispered _"Yes!"_ happily to herself, causing me to roll my eyes.

God, I have a feeling I'm going to regret my decision.

* * *

 **Haruhi**

After running into Hikaru in the courtyard, Haruhi decided that she would just eat her lunch in the classroom of her next class, just like she used to do at the beginning of the year last year. However, she didn't really have the appetite to eat. She just picked at her lunch, only eating about half of it when the lunch period was over. Laughter from a female student caught her attention and she looked towards the door where she saw Mari latched onto an irritated-looking Hikaru's arm as they walked into the classroom.

"Oh Hikaru, you're so funny." Mari giggled.

"I didn't say anything." Hikaru grumbled as he made his way to his seat next to Haruhi.

"I know, but I'm still laughing at what you said during lunch."

"I told you to fuck off." He then ripped his arm out of Mari's grasp. "Which I still would like you to do."

Mari giggled again, which was starting to piss Haruhi off. She barely knew Mari, all she knew was that she was Hikaru's new neighbor, but from what he told her about Mari she wasn't the great person, far from it. Haruhi could tell that the giggling was fake and could feel a strong hatred coming off of Mari and directed towards her. She even caught the smirk that she gave towards Haruhi's direction when Hikaru wasn't paying attention as if she was trying to get a reaction out of her. Was she trying to make her jealous? It wasn't going to work because Haruhi wanted nothing to do with Hikaru, but it for some reason irked her. It might have been because Hikaru and her were close friends just a few days ago and she still felt like she needed to be protective over him, but she wanted Mari to leave him alone.

"I'll see you next passing period." She beamed before giving Hikaru as a hug from behind as he was sitting in his seat, causing him to exclaim out in pain which caught Haruhi's attention again immediately.

Once Mari let him go he hunched over in his seat as he grabbed his upper left arm, his face was scrunched up in intense pain. Mari didn't seem to notice his pain and blew him a kiss before heading towards the door, giving Haruhi another smirk along the way as they made eye contact. Once Mari left the room Haruhi looked back over at Hikaru and saw that he now had his head on the table as he still held his arm. His breathing was quick and sharp through his nose as if he was in intense pain, which Haruhi knew he was by the way his face was scrunched up.

She really wanted to ask if he was alright, but she kept quiet as she remembered herself that he wasn't her concern anymore, but she just couldn't help but worry if it was his mother to blame for his arm. It didn't look like it was broken, and his shoulder couldn't have been dislocated because he was grabbing his upper arm. Maybe she hit him with something when he got home, she didn't remember him calling his mother while they were at the motel, so maybe he got punished for that.

Soon students began flooding in the classroom as the bell rang and Haruhi immediately looked away from Hikaru as soon as he opened his eyes, so he wouldn't notice she was staring at him.

 _'Remember Haruhi, he's no longer your concern. He's going to be fine.'_

She gave him one last concerned look as he sat up straight, probably so he wouldn't let people know that he was in pain.

 _'God, I hope he's going to be fine.'_

* * *

 **Hikaru**

I stared down at my English assignment angrily as I was starting to get fucking frustrated that I wasn't able to understand it no matter how many times my new tutor explained it to me.

"S-So, do you understand now?" Kazukiyo nervously asked.

"No, none of this makes any fucking sense to me." I growled angrily as I clenched my hair as I began to get stressed. "What the hell even is an attitude word and where the fuck do I even put in the paragraph? Why does the works cited have to be in that fucking order and how do I get my computer to do whatever the hell reverse indentation is?"

"I'm sor-sorry, I'm trying to explain it to you the best I can."

I glared up at him but once I saw the terrified expression on his face it caused my glare to fall. I knew he was terrified of me, but not this much. He looked like I was about to pull a knife out on him if he didn't help me understand the assignment in the next few minutes. Was my reputation that bad that people actually thought I would just hurt anyone? Yeah, I have gotten into fights over stupid shit in the past, but they were always with people who could defend themselves. Even if I did hate Kazukiyo's guts, which I didn't, I wouldn't try to fight him because I knew that he would definitely lose in a matter of seconds.

I sighed as I rubbed my temples. "No, I should be the one that's sorry. The past few days have been complete shit and I'm taking it out on you. I know that you're trying your best, so don't be sorry." I laid my chin in my hand as I looked back at him. I could tell that he was still nervous, but he was also in complete shock that I was actually being nice to him. "You don't have to be afraid of me. I'm not going to hurt you."

"You-You're not?"

I shook my head. "You did nothing for me to hate you. I know you might think I dislike you because I've teased you in the past, but that's not true. From what I see in class you're actually a really great guy and I guess I didn't know that when I was poking fun at you in the past I was actually hurting you. I'm an asshole and I'm sorry about that."

Kazukiyo's expression remained the same for a few seconds until it finally faltered and he gave me a small smile.

"You're not a complete asshole." He said, which I quirked an eyebrow to. "If you truly were you wouldn't be apologizing to me and mean it. You may have teased me in the past but I knew you were joking. I only grew afraid of you because I saw you beat up that kid when we were in middle school and your personality just suddenly changed after that. I thought that if I said something that you didn't like, you would do the same to me. That's why I was always so nervous around you," his smile widened, "but now I see that you're mostly still the same Hikaru that I knew before." I just stared at him completely speechless which caused him to laugh. "Now we got that you're not going to hurt me out of the way, how about I continue to try and help you understand the assignment."

I just continued to stare at him in shock but what he just told me. Then slowly, a smile began forming on my face. Does this mean that we might be friends again? We were in middle school but we stopped after I began shutting everyone but Kaoru out. I knew Kazukiyo and I would never be close enough where we would hang out outside of tutoring, but he could be someone I could actually talk to in school while Kaoru was away. He might not be able to replace Haruhi, but at least I technically had another friend.

"Yeah." I said as my smile grew. Kazukiyo pointed to the top sentence of the assignment and was about to re-explain it to me when his smile suddenly fell and he seemed to grow concerned about something. "What's wrong?"

"Your arm," he answered as he pointed with his pen to my left arm, "it's bleeding."

"What?!" I quickly looked at my arm and grew horrified when I saw that the upper part of the sleeve of my blue blazer was soaked in blood. Fuck, my wound must've reopened. "Shit!" I hissed as I shot up from my chair and grabbed my bag. "I'll be back as soon as I can."

I dashed out of the library without waiting for Kazukiyo to respond and made my way to the closest bathroom, which unfortunately was a pretty far distance away. I dodged out of the way of people as I continued to hurry down the hall and finally made it to the bathroom. Luckily, no one was in the bathroom when I got there and I closed the door so hopefully, it would indicate to people not to enter. I walked over to one of the sinks and placed my bag on the floor before I began digging through it.

"Come on, come on. I know I put in here."

Finally when I found what I was looking for I pulled out the small first aid kit and stood up. I opened the kit and then took off my blazer. I ignored the sharp pain as I unbuttoned my shirt halfway so I was able to just slip off the left sleeve and then began to unwrapping the bandage. Almost immediately as I took off the bandage blood started dripping from my wound and into the sink. I tried to use paper towels to stop the bleeding but the blood would just soak through each of the towels, turning the white paper almost fully red in a matter of minutes.

"Why isn't it stopping?" I began to panic.

It wasn't even close to this bad this morning, it stopped after a few minutes, so why won't it stop now? I went to grab another paper towel but my elbow brushed up against the first aid kit, making it fall on the ground and all the content to spill on the floor.

"No!" I whispered as I got down on the floor and began packing everything up.

I tried to get everything picked up with one hand as quickly as I could, but some of the items rolled out of arm's reach from me and I knew if I tried to reach for them my arm might begin to bleed even worse, so I had no other choice to use my other arm that I was using to try and stop my wound from bleeding. I removed the paper towel and almost immediately blood began dripping onto the tile but I ignored it for that moment as I began reaching for the rest of the supplies. Once I finally gathered everything I picked up the first aid kit and brought it back up to the sink to continue to try and patch up the wound, but before I could even reach for another paper towel I head the door to the bathroom open.

"Hikaru?"

I whipped my head towards the direction of the door and saw Kyoya standing there with a mortified expression on his face when he saw the blood in the sink and on the floor, then it soon turned to a furious glare as he walked up to me. "Explain to me right now what the fuck happened and if your mother did this to you or not!"

"I-I," I tried to stutter out a lie, but no words would come out as I felt like a little kid being confronted by a teacher.

"Don't lie to me Hikaru, please…" His expression softened and turned worried as he stared at my bleeding arm. "Did your mother do this to you?" I let out a sigh, knowing there was no point in lying to him so I just slowly nodded. "What did she do?"

"She tugged me away from the stairs and I landed on a vase. A shard went into my arm and no matter how much I begged she wouldn't take me to a doctor so I had to bandage it up myself. I got the bleeding under control yesterday but right now it won't stop no matter what I do."

"You shouldn't have removed the bandage." Kyoya said as he walked over to me and began getting some supplies out from my first aid kit. "Even if it bled through it would also help the bleeding stop faster because it was applying pressure." He grabbed an alcohol wipe and a wound pad then began cleaning the blood outside the wound, causing me to bite down on my finger so I wouldn't grunt out from the pain. "Sorry, I know this hurts, but I just want to see how bad the wound actually is because I know you're not going to have the nurse check it out, am I correct?" I nodded, biting down harder on my finger almost to the point that I was breaking the skin as he cleaned closer to the wound. "From what I see you're going to need stitches. The wound is too deep to properly heal on its own."

"I can't," I hissed out, "my card isn't working for some reason at the moment and if I got to our regular doctor and my mom finds out she's going to get mad, especially since she wouldn't take me to the doctor yesterday."

"Why didn't you call me like I asked?" He questioned as he put down the wipe and applied the wound pad. "I told you and Kaoru when you stayed over at my house that if your mother severely hurt you two you had to call me. I know you may not think we're friends, but I want to help you."

"You're right, I don't think of you as a friend." I heard him let out a sigh as he grabbed the bandage wraps and I looked over my shoulder at him as he began wrapping my arm. "I think of you more like family."

Kyoya paused bandaging my arm and looked up at in complete shock. "Huh?"

"After everything you have done for Kaoru and I, taking us into your home and having your family take care of us really meant a lot to us. After Kaoru confessed everything to you, you could've just let us go back to our house with our drunken abusive mother but you helped us and kept us safe, probably even saving our lives, and we're very grateful for that."

I could tell that Kyoya was at a loss for words, he probably thought that I dropped our friendship after Kaoru and I went back home when mom got sober, which I hadn't. I just never liked being around anyone besides Kaoru at school and if I did want to hang with Kyoya, he was always around Tamaki, so I just left them alone so I wouldn't have to deal with Tamaki.

"Then why won't you let me help you know?" Kyoya asked.

"Because," I said as I faced away from him, "I want to try and help her get sober on her own. I'm afraid that if she's placed into rehab she'll just go back to drinking afterwards once she gets out and I'm also afraid that the press will find out about her drinking."

"That didn't happen before. She avoided alcohol at all cost when she got out last time, and we made sure that the press wouldn't know that she was in rehab by keeping her check in a secret."

"I know," I sighed and I felt him resume bandaging my arm, "but I just don't want to take any chances." I looked at his reflection in the mirror. "Just let me try to get her sober for a few more months until Kaoru comes back, and if she's not better I promise we'll leave."

He let out a low growl, which told me he wasn't happy with me but he then met my eyes in the mirror. "Fine, but if you get severely hurt before then or she lays a hand on you or Kaoru once he gets back I'll drag you two out of that house by force if I need to. Do you understand?" I nodded. "Good, I'm glad we were able to come to an agreement."

Once he finished bandaging my arm he cleaned up my blood that dripped on the floor as I carefully put my left arm back in my shirt and rolling up the left sleeve to my upper arm before buttoning it up. When Kyoya was finished cleaning he handed me my blazer.

"Come on, I'm taking you to one of my family hospitals to get your arm stitched up."

"But what about my tutoring lesson? If I leave I might get in trouble with Mr. Suoh."

"Don't worry, I'll talk to him and your tutor and I'm positive he'll let you leave."

He began walking towards the door, but as he grabbed the handle I stopped him. "Kyoya?"

"Yes?" He asked as he faced back to me.

"I…" I held my blazer that was draped over my arms closer to me. I wasn't good at being nice to people, even the ones that I cared about, but just the thought of Kyoya helping me, even though my reputation here was shit actually made me grateful for something in my life. "Thank you, for everything."

He smiled at me. "Hey, that's what family is for." He said, which caused me to smile as well.

* * *

After I got stitched up at Kyoya's family hospital I made my way home. The house was quiet when I entered but I knew mom was home because I saw her car out front. She must have left work early or decided to stay home today, probably because she felt too drunk to leave. I didn't want to talk to her, I just wanted to go grab a quick snack before heading up to my room, but I had to tell her that there was something wrong with my debit card so it could be fixed.

I heard movement coming from her office, so I placed my blazer over the couch before making my way over there. Once I got there it seemed like she was working on a new design for her new clothing line that was scheduled to be released in the spring. I had to give her props, no matter how drunk she was she still was able to come up with extraordinary designs that put other fashion designers to shame.

I knocked on the door frame lightly with two of my fingers to get her attention, which by the glare on her face she wasn't too happy that I interrupted her.

"What?" She asked curtly.

"Um," I started in a small voice, trying to upset her any further, "I just wanted to tell you that there's something wrong with my debit card and I wanted to know if you could try to call the card company to have them fix it."

"There's nothing wrong with your debit card Hikaru." She grumbled as she went back to sketching her design.

"But when I tried to buy lunch today at school my card wouldn't go through."

"That's because I called the company today and had them freeze your card."

I forwarded my eyebrows. "But why would you-"

"Because," she interrupted me, "you clearly showed me yesterday that you're irresponsible and I don't want you wasting the money that I work so hard to get on the stupid shit you want to do."

"But what about lunch at school or gas for my car? I need money for that."

"Not my problem." Mom replied, not even bothering to look up at me. "Once you show me that you'll be responsible enough to be trusted with money again I'll unfreeze your debit card, but for now I don't want to hear any more of it."

"But mom…" She looked up at me with a dark scowl, causing me to feel only a few inches tall. I knew better than to try and convince her when she was in a bad mood so I just gave her a nod. "Ok…"

I turned and left the room without another word, knowing it would only lead to her yelling or hitting me. I didn't bother getting a snack and just went up to my room. Where I mostly stayed for the remainder of the day.

* * *

 **Hey guys, I hoped you enjoyed this chapter. I'm sorry if there was a bit of a wait, I've been really busy these past few weeks with finals and my dog being really sick and I'm scared we might have to put him down, but hopefully, it won't come to that. I also started a new story called Secret Rendezvous, which I hope you will check out. Please Favorite, Follow, and Review. Until Next time.-HH1957**


	16. Omake: A Hitachiin Christmas

Autumn soon ended and came winter. I was in the first few days of winter break and even though I fucking despised school, I couldn't wait to go back. Being on vacation for two weeks usually excited students but I absolutely dreaded it. I couldn't go anywhere to escape this Hell I call home because I had no money, and I also had no one to hang out with. I couldn't hang with Kyoya because he was on a family vacation to France and I could only talk to Kaoru during the night because of the huge time difference. Haruhi still refused to talk to me, Kaoru even tried calling her a couple of times to try and get her to be friends with me again but she wouldn't answer her phone. I could tell that the Host Club was getting worried about her since she refused to be around them as well, especially that asshole Tamaki, so I guess she hasn't confronted him about cheating yet.

To be honest, I thought it would be easy to revert back to my lone wolf lifestyle, but it wasn't. I craved her presence and attention almost all day, and it hasn't stopped in weeks. I couldn't believe that the girl I could barely stand only a couple months ago was now like a drug to me, and I was suffering through serious withdrawal without her. I tried everything to get her out of my mind, but it mostly only lasted a few hours until my thoughts relapsed back to her. Living like this was fucking torture, but thankfully the task mom gave me kept me from thinking too much about Haruhi today.

I finished setting the angel on top of the tree and then took a few steps back to admire the fully decorated Christmas tree. I was finally finished decorating the house after many hours, which I was technically forced to do. Mom woke me up around eight in the morning and told me while she and Isao were at work I had to decorate the house and if I wasn't done by the time she got home I wouldn't be sleeping in the house tonight. Which knowing her while drunk, she'll keep that promise. I had no idea where any of the decorations were and took me a good hour to find them deep within the garage, along with the tree. It took me about two to three hours to set up the damn tree because even following the directions I couldn't even wrap my head around the shit it was trying to tell me. Then right after I finished putting up the tree the last chore I had to do was decorate it and the living room, which took me a few hours to do as well, but now I was finally finished and could relax.

I flopped down on the couch and let out an exhausted sigh before reaching over for the remote and turning on the TV to a random channel. Most of the TV stations were playing Christmas movies and shows, mostly because today was Christmas Eve. I wasn't the biggest fan of these types of shows and films at the moment because most of them would show happy families enjoying the holiday together, which made me envy them. Yes, they weren't actually a family and just paid actors playing a role but they brought to life how the Christmas holiday should be with your family, not even close to how mine was.

While people usually had their families all together at least for a few days before and after Christmas, I've been alone almost the whole vacation so far. Though I'd much rather be alone the whole day in this house rather than having mom yell and hit me for random shit, but it did make me miss how we use to celebrate Christmas in the past...before dad's disappearance. Even though my parents worked out of the country most of the time when Kaoru and I were younger, they made sure to be home for most of the holidays. We wouldn't do anything too spectacular, just open presents and go out to eat to a five-star restaurant for dinner, but at least we did it as a family.

Now, after dad went missing it felt like I didn't have a family anymore besides Kaoru, who was still all the way in New York…

I finally found a channel that didn't have a Christmas show on, which was Animal Planet, and before I could even begin watching the show, the front door slammed opened, scaring me and caused some of the decorations to fall that were near the door by the sudden force. I groaned as I heard glass break and slouched further down the couch.

"Sorry," Isao apologized as he entered the house, "I was carrying in these boxes so I had to use my foot to open the door but I didn't realize that I used that much strength." He closed the door with his heel then walked over to the kitchen and placed the boxes on the tables before opening one. "I promise I'll clean up whatever broke when I'm done here."

I glanced over at him as he rummaged through the box. "What's in the boxes?"

"Some Christmas knick-knacks that people weren't using at work. I thought that it might bring the house more of a festive vibe."

"But I already decorated the house when you and mom were gone."

He paused what he was doing and looked around the living room. "Huh, it seems you have." He then shrugged before going back to rummaging. "More the merrier, ha see what I did there?"

I rolled my eyes at his pathetic attempt at a dad joke, but he didn't seem to notice as he chuckled to himself and pulled, what looked like a nutcracker, out of the box, making its mouth chomp playfully.

"What are you doing home so early anyway? Don't you and mom have similar hours?" I asked.

"We do, but my office was let out early because of today being Christmas Eve. Though your mother still has to stay until her usual time." He put the nutcracker down on the table and picked up another random knick-knack. "Speaking of your mother, did you get her a gift yet?"

My eyes widened in horror as I felt my body literally grow cold as if I just jumped into a frozen lake. Fuck, I forgot to get mom a gift. I've been so sidetracked with all the shit that's been going on in my life that getting her a gift was the last thing on my mind. She's going to be livid if I don't go out and get her anything but I also didn't have the money to afford anything that she would like.

"Uh no." I finally answered, trying not to let my voice stutter from how scared I was for tomorrow. "I don't have enough money to get anything."

"Why don't I lend you my card? I have way more than enough money for whatever gift you want to give her."

"You would really let me borrow your card to buy mom a gift?"

"Yeah, as long as you give it back when you come back."

"Uh, thanks." I said as he reached into his pocket to pull out his wallet.

He walked over to me where I was sitting on the couch and handed his card to me with a smile. "You can also fill up your car and get Kaoru a gift along the way as well. I know he'll like that."

I just stared at the card for a few seconds in disbelief before looking back up at him. He's always been a nice guy to me, even though I treated him like complete shit over the past few years. He was, however, mom's little follower. He wouldn't abuse me technically, but he would ignore it or even sometimes hold me down if my mom asked whenever she abused me. He also would never go behind mom's back either, so it made me wonder why he would lend me his card if he knew I wasn't allowed to have any money.

"But what if mom finds out? I don't want her to get mad that I used your money while I'm not supposed to have any."

"Don't worry," he winked, "I'll make sure to tell her I let you borrow my card if she finds out."

I still was unsure if I should actually take the card or not, but if he was going to vouch for me then I might as well take it so I could buy mom and Kaoru a gift.

I smiled at him, which I rarely ever did, and took the card from him. Maybe he wasn't as bad as a guy as I thought he was for all these years. I probably just never really noticed it since I've just refused to give him a chance because I didn't want him to replace dad, but maybe I should give him a chance and maybe if we got along he could stop mom's abuse and help me get her sober. Although, he is the reason she relapsed...but he does apologize for it a lot...

"Thanks," I said, "this really means a lot."

"No problem, and who knows," his smile widened, "maybe this could the first step of us finally getting along."

"Yeah, maybe something like that."

* * *

The mall was extremely busy with people doing last minute Christmas shopping, running from store to store desperate to find the items that they were looking for. Hopefully, what I was looking for was most likely still here. It wasn't cheap like most of the items people were trying to buy here, so they should still have it in stock.

I entered the most high-end jewelry shop that the mall had. Everything presented in the store was like a work of art, from the huge waterfall chandelier to the marble flooring. All the jewelry were displayed in cases that had a white glow, making all the jewels shine brighter to catch everyone's eye. Luckily I remembered when I tagged along with mom a few months back when she was sober to the mall and a specific piece caught her attention. She didn't end up buying it because we already bought a lot of other items that trip, so even though it almost physically hurt her, she left the necklace. Thank God I was actually paying attention that shopping trip or I might be a goner.

After scanning a few of the cases I finally found what I was looking for all the way in the back. The piece was a diamond statement necklace that had eighteen lines of diamonds growing from shortest on both sides and growing longer until they met the line in the middle. I couldn't help the smile spread across my face at the thought of mom enjoying something I finally got her. I checked the price tag and my smile somewhat faltered. $10,000, shit, I may be rich but that was a little too expensive even for me just for a necklace. I didn't even know how much Isao had on his card, but since we all shared a bank account with mom he should definitely have more than enough money.

"May I help you, sir?" An employee asked behind the display case.

"Yeah, I would like to buy that statement necklace." I said as I pointed to it.

"Alright, would you like the box wrapped up or just in the bag?"

"Wrapped please."

The employee nodded before taking the necklace from the display case and went to the back room to wrap the box up. As I waited I scanned through the other pieces of jewelry in the display cases to pass the time as I slowly made my way over to the cash register. All the pieces were gorgeous, but just like the necklace very expensive. $10,000 still hardly put a dent in our wealth, but mom still didn't like to spend as much as we use to, so being used to that mindset for years made me wonder why people would buy items this expensive all the time.

The employee emerged from the back room and I gave her Isao's card to pay for the necklace then she bagged up the wrapped box before handing it and the card back to me.

Once I left the jewelry shop I made my way to the bookstore to get a few books for Kaoru. He enjoyed reading a lot more than I did so I thought a few books he was interested in but never got the chance to read would be a great present for him. It took me quite some time to find a series that I was looking for and when I finally did I grabbed the first two books so he could see if he liked them. I left the aisle that I was in and was about to walk towards the direction of the cashier was when I suddenly stopped in my tracks and grew terrified when I saw Haruhi walk into the bookstore, coming towards my direction. Without even thinking I ran back into the aisle I was in and put my back to the shelf, hugging the books to my chest as if I was trying to hide myself the best I could.

What the fuck was she doing here?! I thought she would've been the type of person who finished their Christmas shopping months in advance? So why the fuck was she at the mall and why did she have to walk into the bookstore while I was in here?!

My heart was literally pounding in my chest almost as if I was the next victim in a horror movie. I had to think of something quick, she was going to pass the aisle that I was in at any second and there were no doubt she would recognize me and if I tried to book it to the cashier she would definitely see me as well.

Then suddenly, an idea popped into my head when I remembered that I was wearing a navy blue hoodie instead of my leather jacket. Haruhi's never seen me in this before, so if I put my hood up I might be able to pass her without her recognizing me. It was worth a shot.

I grabbed my hood and placed it over my head so I could still see but it barely showed my eyes and I turned to my left, speed walking down the other side of the aisle so I wouldn't run into Haruhi. I turned to look over my shoulder, seeing that Haruhi was now standing where I was before and reading the summary on a back of a book. I almost let out a sigh of relief that she was distracted but before I could I ran into a small book stand, making some of the books fall onto the floor.

"Shit!" I cursed under my breath before getting down and began picking up the books as fast as I could.

I had few books in my arms and was about to reach over to grab another one when I saw another hand grab it, accompanied with them speaking in a far too familiar voice that almost made my heart stop.

"Here, let me help." Haruhi said as she began helping me pick up the rest of the books.

I gulped and kept my head down so she couldn't see my face, but I couldn't help but occasionally glance up at her when she wasn't facing me. My chest began to feel tight as I stared at her. None of my feelings faltered since the day she broke off our friendship and all I wanted to do was talk to her. I wanted to tell her how much I missed her and I would do anything for her to give me another chance to be her friend again. After having a friend like her I couldn't go back to my old ways. I also wanted to thank her for keeping Mr. Suoh from expelling me, but I knew once I showed her who I was she would just turn away like she always did at school. So before she could notice that it was me I put my head back down before she turned back to me and finished helping me pick up the books.

Once we were finished she grabbed the two books that I was going to buy for Kaoru and handed them to me. "Here, I think these are yours."

I nodded a thank you but as I grabbed the books to take them from her, our fingers touched, causing my body to tense up. Haruhi must've sensed that I had grown tensed and released the books, but I could feel her staring at me which almost was causing my body to tremble from how nervous I was.

"Hey, do I know you?" She asked.

I shook my head as I hugged the books to my chest, feeling the hard rhythm of my heartbeat quicken inside my chest.

"No, I really think I do." She said as I heard her moving closer to me, only causing my body to tense up more. "The structure of your jaw looks really familiar and…" She suddenly grew quiet as if she just realized. Did she just find out it was me? Fuck, she's probably going to think I've been stalking her because of how suspicious I looked. I needed to get out of here now. "That bruise on your neck, are you-"

Before she could finish asking her question I shot up and bolted away from her as fast as I could without running. I wasn't sure if she called out for me to stop or not because I could only hear the hard beating of my heart as I made my way to the cashier. Luckily there was no line and I was quickly able to purchase the books and leave hopefully before Haruhi noticed that I was gone.

* * *

I walked up to my front door and unlocked it and as I opened the door a heavenly smell of food cooking hit my nose, which confused me. Was mom sober today? Usually whenever she cooks the house smelled awful, but today was the exact opposite. Just like the times she used to cook before she relapsed.

"Hikaru, you're home." Mom greeted happily, but by how giddy she sounded and her voice slurred I could tell she was still drunk.

I let out a sigh as I closed the door as mom walked towards me with a big smile and her arms out as if she was going to give me a hug.

"Hey mom, what's for-"

But I was cut off mid-sentence as she slapped me. I just blinked a few times before facing back over towards her in confusion and utter shock as her once happy expression only moments ago was now furious.

"Did you really think that I was stupid enough not to find out?!" Mother hissed.

I brought my hand to my stinging cheek. "I-I don't understand. Find out what?"

"Don't act like you don't fucking know what I'm talking about! You stole Isao's card when he came home earlier today and bought random shit for yourself with it."

"That's not true." I corrected. "Isao lend me his card to buy some items that I needed and to get gas for my car. I promise I didn't steal it from him. You can ask him yourself."

Mom's glare hardened at me before she put her hands on her hips. "Isao!"

"Yes, dear?" Isao called from the kitchen.

"Can you come over here for a few moments?"

The sound of cookware being placed on the counter along with Isao's footsteps as he made his way over to the living room. He wiped his hands with a towel as he walked up next to mom and she gave him a smile, an actual genuine one that made my chest tighten. She always gave him that smile, no matter what he did, while she hasn't given me one in months.

"Isao, is what Hikaru said true? Did you lend him your card?"

Isao looked from mother to me as if he was trying to come up with what to say. I tilted my head towards mom, silently telling him to tell mom that he did, in fact, lend me his card like he promised, but all he did was give me a stern glare before crossing his arms over his chest.

"No," he answered, causing my eyes to grow wide from the shock of him lying, "I did not."

"Thank you dear." She gave him a kiss on the cheek. "You can go back to making dinner."

Isao nodded and turned before making his way back to the kitchen. Did...Did he really just break our promise and lie to my mom that I stole his card? Why would he do that? He knew mom would explode if she didn't know I borrowed his card, but instead of him making it better he made it worse by lying saying that I stole it. I would've been beyond livid at that moment if I wasn't already terrified as I looked back over at mom, who's scowl has hardened.

"Mom I promise I'm not lying. You have to believe me." I practically begged. "I would never steal his card-"

"You really think I would believe you after all the lies you've told me today?!" Mom snapped, which caused me to grow confused again.

"I haven't lied to you."

"Oh really?" She put her hands back on her hips. "You promised me this morning when I woke you up that you would decorate the house, but when I came home I saw Isao putting up the last of the decorations and informed me that when he tried to get you to help you broke a snow globe!" She pointed over to the broken snow globe that was still on the floor that Isao promised to clean up before I left.

"That's not true." I said, desperate for her to believe me. "I was the one who decorated the house, I did all of this. Isao is the one who broke the snow globe when he came home and the only things he put up were the Christmas knick-knacks that he got from work. Please mom, you have to believe me."

I was almost on the brink of tears as I kept trying to get her to believe me. I wasn't going to let that fucking asshole Isao take credit for what I did and I get punished for it, but no matter what I did she just wouldn't believe me.

"Enough of this bull shit Hikaru."

"Mom I promised that I'm not lying, Isao is."

"Don't blame your step-father for the shit you did!"

"But mom I'm telling the truth. Isao is the one lying-"

She slapped me again, making me grow silent. I didn't bother to look back at her as she began yelling at me again.

"God, why can't you be a fucking good son and do what your loving mother asks you to do, but instead you decide to be a lazy piece of shit and try to take credit for someone else's work and take their money that they worked so hard to get." She held out her hand. "Give me back the card now."

I didn't hesitate getting my wallet out of my pants pocket and gave her Isao's card. She snatched the card away from me before roughly grabbing my upper arm and began tugging me towards the door.

"Mo-Mom, what are you doing?" I asked as I tried to get out of her grip.

"I told you this morning that if you didn't decorate the house you'll be sleeping outside." She opened the door and practically pushed me out of the house, causing me to stumble and fall on my knees on the concrete. "You can come back inside tomorrow when you learn some fucking respect!"

"Wait mom-"

She slammed the front door closed before I could finish speaking and turned off the porch light, shrouding me in complete darkness. I didn't move from where I was as I continued to stare at the front door, trying to process everything that just happened. I got kicked out of my house because mother believed Isao over me. I know that I shouldn't be surprised, no matter what Isao does mom never got mad at him, but if Kaoru or I did the same thing we would get severely punished...I just didn't understand why she hated us so much while she was drunk, but still was in love with Isao.

I always wondered if it had to do with something about dad, about how we're technically a product of him and mom, so even though we look more like mom she still sees our dad in us and takes out all her anger towards him on us because we had some characteristics of him in us. While probably if her and Isao had a child...she would probably love them dearly, even if she's drunk…

I used the sleeve of my hoodie to wipe the tears that were welling up in my eyes before standing up. A cold breeze blew past, causing me to hug my arms around myself. I needed to find a way in without mom or Isao finding out or I was going to freeze out here. Worse case of scenario I could sleep in my car, but I knew that even with my jacket on it would be freezing.

I took a few steps back so I could have the full view of the house to see if there was any way I could get in. It would be stupid to use the front or back door so those were out. All the windows were closed and locked except…

A small smile of relief appeared on my face when I saw the window to my room was open. I forgot that I left it open when I took a smoke break from decorating. This was the only time I was actually happy that I broke my promise to Kaoru and Haruhi about quitting. The only problem I had now was how was I going to get up on the roof to reach the window. I looked around the yard to see if there was anything that I could use as a latter, but everything was too short for me to even touch the roof. I may have been one of the tallest people in my class, but I wasn't a giant as I stood at only 5'11.

As I was about to give up hope and just sleep in my car I noticed Isao's old white hatchback was in the right position in the driveway where I could reach the roof. I smirked mischievously as I made my way over to my ticket inside my house, trying my best to resist the urges to slash his tires or break his side mirrors because it would be obvious that it would've been me...maybe some other time.

I hopped onto the hood of his car, not even trying to be careful as I quietly stomped my way to get onto the roof of the car. It's technically not my fault that his car might be dented now. If he hadn't fucked me over and told mom the truth I wouldn't be in a situation where I had to dent his car.

Once I was high enough I pulled myself onto the roof with ease and made my way over to the window of my room before crawling inside. I quietly closed the window so it wouldn't draw any attention, then made my way over to the door to shut it so mom and Isao wouldn't see that I snuck back in, but as I grabbed the door handle I halted as I heard cheerful laughter coming from downstairs. It angered me that they were acting as if they didn't just throw me out of the fucking house in the cold as they enjoyed their dinner that good for nothing son of a bitch Isao made, but it also saddened me that mom acts so happy and sweet when she was drunk, except to her sons. I know I should be used to it by now, but even after years of abuse it never gets easier. I might be able to numb my emotions but I could only do that for so long until everything just pours out.

I let out a glum sigh before closing the door to my room quietly, trying not to let my emotions take over as I trained myself to do, then I made my way over to my desk and placed the bag of gifts I bought on it. I did plan on wrapping them for tomorrow, but since the wrapping paper was all the way in the closet downstairs I wouldn't be able to fetch it without them noticing. I took out the gift I got for mom and stared at it, scratching at the velvet material that surrounded the box as I began to feel myself grow angry again. I didn't want to give this necklace to her anymore. All I wanted to do was hide this away somewhere and give her nothing tomorrow, but I knew that would most likely only result in another punishment.

I cursed under my breath before walking away from my desk, stripping off my hoodie and shirt along with my jeans, not bothering to put them in the hamper as I grabbed a pair of black sweats and put them on. I slid under the covers, hugging them around me as I tried to shield myself from the freezing room. I knew that it was only seven but my body felt so exhausted that in only a matter of minutes I felt myself drifting off as I stared at the full moon outside. Praying like I did every night that tomorrow will be a better day, but I knew that was a long shot.

* * *

"Get up!" Mom barked as she pounded on my door, waking me up. "It's time to open gifts."

I looked over at the door, not lifting my head from my pillow then squinted tiredly at the clock that read 9:30. Shit, did I really sleep for fourteen hours? I really must've been exhausted from last night. It also seems that mom forgot that she threw me out yesterday, so at least I won't have to deal with her punishing me for sneaking back in.

I let out a tired sigh as I crawled out of bed and got dressed before heading over to the bathroom. As I walked in I made my way over to the counter to fix up my appearance to make it look somewhat decent enough. Though, as I was fixing my hair I immediately noticed there was a new bruise on my left cheek from where mom slapped me.

Great another one, and right after the one on my neck was just starting to fade as well.

I lightly brushed over the fading purple bruise on my neck. A few days ago while I was eating dinner Mom came home and forced me out of the dining room so her and Isao could eat. I was going to listen to her and take my dinner up to my room to finish it, but I took too long for mom's liking and she hit me with a rolling pin that was left out. It left a nasty bruise that formed only a few hours later but luckily it didn't hurt as bad as it looked, or I was already so used to the pain that nothing really hurt me that bad anymore.

I just huffed and finished getting ready and when I felt like I looked decent enough I made my way back over to my room and grabbed mom's gift and a random item for Isao, even though I didn't want to give him shit, then left my room before making my way downstairs.

As I stepped down from the last step of the stairs I noticed all the gifts under the tree, varying in sizes...maybe one will be mine this year..? But by how my stocking looked empty while Isao's and mom's were filled to the tops with gifts told me there most likely wasn't.

"Finally, you're down." I heard mom grumble from the dining room. "Grab some breakfast so we can begin opening gifts."

I did as mom said and went to the dining room to get breakfast. Usually every Christmas we would have pancake or waffles, sometimes even french toast, it might've not been the fanciest tradition in the world, but mom just wanted the whole family together for the whole day. However, for the past few years since dad's been gone the tradition started dying with each year, and now this year was just pathetic. Mom and Isao didn't even bother trying to cook and seemed to just pop premade cinnamon rolls in the oven and call it breakfast. At least last year we had a variety of different foods that were pretty much homemade, even though it didn't taste that well, but thankfully they didn't burn the food this year.

I grabbed a plate and took two cinnamon rolls before heading to the couch in the family room where Isao was sitting in a chair and mom on the other side of the couch were waiting for me.

"Alright," mom said as she excitedly clapped her hands, "let's get to opening gifts."

"Oh and Hikaru, I really hope you don't mind how breakfast turned out. I know we usually have a tradition," he said as he grabbed a gift from under the tree, giving me his usual shit-eating grin, "but I promise that dinner will be extraordinary."

I hardened my glare at him. I was still furious at him betraying me yesterday, and he had the fucking nerve to smile at me as if nothing happened.

"Can't wait." I hissed through gritted teeth.

I ate my breakfast as I watched the presents being opened. Isao would read the name on the gift for who it was for before passing it to them, which has only been to mom, or if it was for him he would just open it. The pile of presents began to shrink and the names that were only being called were theirs.

 _Why am I even here? It's like they want to just torture me by having me watch them._

I soon finished my breakfast and laid my head in my hand as the gifts continued being handed out and opened. Mom, Isao, mom, Isao, but my name was never called and then soon there was only one last gift under the tree...which was for mom. I wasn't surprised that I didn't receive anything, it happened last year as well, but Kaoru and I would give each other gifts and with him still in New York for a few more months I won't receive anything until the day his gift arrives in the mail, which won't be for a couple of days.

"Alright," Isao spoke up, "let's give out the gifts that we got each other. I'll go first." Isao took out an envelope from a bag that was next to the chair he was sitting in and leaned over to hand it to me with a smile on his face. "Merry Christmas Hikaru."

I narrowed my eyes at him before taking the envelope from him. I opened it and took out a card that was covered in snowflakes and had a penguin with a Santa hat holding a candy cane saying Merry Christmas. I didn't bother reading what was written inside and took out the gift card, seeing how much it was. I glared back up at him as I grinded my teeth.

"Wow, a $10 gift card to Starbucks, thanks." I grumbled.

"No problem, I'm glad you like it," he then turned to mom and gave her a loving smile before pulling out a wrapped rectangular box out of the bag, "and for you my love."

He gave mom the gift and she took it with a smile. She unwrapped the gift, revealing a similar looking box to what I had gotten her and once she opened it my face paled.

"Oh Isao, it's beautiful." Mom held up the same diamond statement that I bought her, "How did you know that I wanted this?"

"A little birdie told me." He answered before giving her a quick kiss.

I took that time to hide while they were distracted to hide the necklace I bought for mom in my hoodie. How the fuck did Isao know that mom wanted that necklace? He wasn't around when mom pointed it out when I went shopping with her a few months ago, and by her reaction, she seemed to have never mentioned it to him, so who could've told him about it?

"Hikaru?" Isao called my name, breaking me out of my thought. I looked up at him. "It's your turn to give out your gifts."

I gave a nod and reached into my hoodie pocket to grab the gift that I got Isao before handing it to him. It was a watch that one of my past flings gave me for my birthday. I never really wore watches and if I did I wouldn't wear it because I didn't want the former fling to still think I liked her by still wearing the watch, and I only liked Rolex watches, but this watch was pretty expensive too.

"Oh…" Isao seemed actually shocked that I gave him such an expensive gift. He took the watch and admired it. "Thank you." He began to chuckle as if he was embarrassed. "I kinda feel bad for giving you a gift card."

 _You better you fucking son of a bitch!_

I shrugged my shoulders, still too angry to say a word to him in fear that I might give him an attitude that mom won't like. Isao put the watch on before looking back over at me.

"So, what did you get your mother?"

My anger immediately turned back into fear and I looked over at my mom, who was sitting opposite side of the couch from me, waiting patiently for my gift.

I hugged the box close to my body. "I uh…" I gulped as I saw mother's eyes narrow at me. "I ordered your gift online. I thought it would've been here by today but it hasn't arrived yet. I'm sorry…"

Mom seemed like she was about to say something angrily to me, but Isao spoke up again before she could.

"Well, I'm sure your mother won't mind waiting a few more days for her present. Right honey?"

Mom's furious expression fell as she turned towards Isao, who was still smiling at her. She gave him a smile back before facing back towards me. "I don't mind waiting a few more days sweetie. I can't wait to see what it is."

I let out a mental sigh of relief, this is the only time I'm going to thank God for Isao stepping in, or mom might've hurt me again, but now I had to quickly find another gift and give it to her in only a few days or she'll be even more pissed then she would be today.

"So, for my gift, I booked us a reservation to the best restaurant in the city." Her smile brightened at Isao. "Isn't that lovely darling?"

"Oh, I can't wait."

I just sat there silently as they continued their conversation about the restaurant, still hugging the necklace I bought to my body. I still couldn't wrap my head around how Isao knew which necklace mom wanted. He did say someone told him, could it have been someone at his work that mom maybe told about the necklace to? That was the only reasonable explanation.

"May I be excused?" I asked shyly, wanting to be alone until dinner.

"Yeah, sure go." Mom replied without even looking at me, in a voice as if she didn't care as she waved me off.

I got up and made my way back up to my room. I placed the necklace in the bottom desk drawer then headed over to my bed, flopping down onto it. I began rubbing my eyes as I sighed out.

"Shit," I cursed as I covered my eyes with my bent arm, "what the fuck am I going to get her now? That necklace was perfect and I thought that once I gave it to her she would finally be happy with what I got her, but with Isao giving her the necklace as well...a part of me feels like he planned all this, but how the hell would he have known what I was going to get her..?"

I laid my arm back to my side and looked over towards my desk at the books that I got Kaoru. I really needed to pack them in a box and send them out tomorrow if I wanted them to make it to Kaoru in a few days, and it'll also help me kill some time before dinner.

So, for the next few hours, I tried my best to kill some time. After wrapping Kaoru's gifts and addressing them to the hotel that he was staying at I thought it would be best to start on the homework that was assigned over break. I placed a headphone in one of my ears, so I could hear whenever mom or Isao called me down and played some music to help the time go by as I did my work on my bed, using my knees to prop up my notebook so it would be easier to write.

Hours passed and I finally finished my last assignment. After I closed my notebook I looked out the window, seeing it was now dark out. Wow, I didn't even realize that much time had passed while I was doing my homework. I looked over at the clock and saw that it was 7:30. That's odd, we rarely ever had dinner this late. Was mom still getting ready? If she was she's been doing her makeup and hair for hours from when I heard her go to her room.

I decided to ask her when we would be leaving and took out the earphone from my ear as I got up from my bed, stretching until my back gave a satisfying crack before heading towards the door. As I opened the door I looked both directions of the hall, but didn't see Isao or mom, or hear them talking downstairs. I walked over to their bedroom and knocked on the closed door.

"Mom?" There was no answer. "Mom?"

I placed my ear to the door to see if I could hear anything, but there was just silence. I forwarded my eyebrows in confusion as I lifted my head back up and decided to open the door just enough to peek my head in.

"Mom?"

The room was dark and eerily quiet. I wasn't allowed in their room unless it was an emergency, so I didn't want to take any chances to see if she was in the bathroom, but by how there was no sight of light anywhere in the room I highly doubted she was in there. I closed the door to her room and made my way downstairs to the dark living room, which caused a weird feeling to set in my stomach. Why were all the lights off? Did they leave without me..?

I went over to the front door and walked out towards the driveway where I saw that mom's car was missing. They actually fucking left me here on Christmas. Not even the other Christmas' where mom's been drunk she hasn't taken us out for dinner, no matter how mad she was at us, but this year they didn't even call me down or warn me that they were leaving soon...they just left me…

I shoved my hands in my pockets before heading back inside, closing the door with my back. I turned the lights, brightening up the dark living room and made my way over to the kitchen. I better start making some dinner if I'm going to be fending for myself tonight, like usual...

I wasn't in the mood to make anything extravagant, so I just grabbed some chicken from the fridge and cooked it up on the stove, along with some vegetables. Once I was finished cooking I sat at the dining room table and used Isao's laptop to try and search up another gift I could give mom while I ate. I was using Isao's account so I didn't want to get anything too expensive so he wouldn't notice any money missing.

I searched the whole time I ate and couldn't find anything that I thought mom would like. I laid my head in my hand and let out a sigh as I continued scrolling down. All the jewelry that I saw was too expensive and it would be stupid to buy her clothes because she was a fucking fashion designer. Maybe I could order her some new shoes, but I didn't know what brand she liked. I could take a peek at their purchase history to see what brands she bought before and find a different style. I think that would be my best bet right now.

I opened another tab and went to search for their recent purchase history and immediately something caught my attention. There were two purchases of the diamond necklace that I got mom, but bought hours apart. The second necklace was purchased around eight o'clock when I was asleep.

Could he have...no he wouldn't. There was no way he could've gotten the idea for his gift by looking at what I got mom through his card history, but how else could he have known about the necklace. Also, why would he want the same gift as me? It was almost as if…

Then it hit me. He wanted me to get in trouble, that explains why he denied giving me his card when mom asked...but why? Yeah, we never got along, but it was usual for kids not to like their step-parents. I knew he did nothing to stop mom from abusing Kaoru and me, which was one of the many reasons why I didn't like him, but now I learned that he was intentionally getting mom angry yesterday so she would abuse me. It made me wonder, what else did that fucker do?

I bit my lip as I glared at the computer screen as I felt myself began to grow furious. Kyoya was right, Isao was sketchy. Him just appearing into our lives shortly after dad's disappearance and supplying mom with alcohol, then standing by to let her abuse us. Maybe he even...no, I was thinking too much into this. Maybe he was afraid that mom would turn against him because he gave me money when I wasn't supposed to have any. He really couldn't be the cause of all the abuse because it started before he even knew us. I guess I'm just using him as a scapegoat.

I shook my head and went back to the searching for a brand of shoes to buy mom and bought a black pair of the tan ones I found in their purchase history. After that, I cleaned up the kitchen then decided to watch a movie to pass the time until mom and Isao came home. Though, I began worrying when I was halfway through the movie when I saw that it was 9:30. They should've been home by now. Mom never really stayed out late unless she was going to a bar, which she hasn't done in years. She liked to keep her image clean and with her at a bar every night people might think she had a problem, so she usually just drank at home, but on the rare occasions that she did go, Kaoru and I would be worried sick that she might get killed driving home, and also because she usually had a lot stronger of liquor then she had at home, so she would be far more abusive.

Soon 9:30 turned into 10:30, then 11:30, then 12:30. My one movie turned into three as I continued to wait for them to come home. I had a blanket securely around me as I laid on the couch, watching the beginning of _The Polar Express_ , the fourth movie I was watching after _The Grinch, The Santa Claus,_ and _Elf._ I began to feel myself start to doze off as I watched the scene where the main character stopped the train for the little boy to get on. I needed to stay awake so I knew that mom came home safe, but it was beginning to grow difficult and I guess I gave in because the next thing I knew I opened my eyes at the sound of the door unlocking and saw that the credits were rolling down the screen. I looked over towards the door and heard drunken laughter as they both entered the house, completely ignoring me as they walked by me and turned on the light in the kitchen, causing my eyes to hurt by the sudden bright light.

I reached over to grab the remote on the coffee table and turned off the TV before sitting up and watched Isao grab two wine glasses before opening a bottle of white wine. Were they actually going to continue drinking? They were practically wasted already, did they want to get alcohol poisoning?

"Oh, you're still up?" Isao said as he finally noticed me. He wasn't as drunk as mom was, but wasn't far from it. "I thought you would've been passed out by this time."

"I was worried, so I stayed up until you two got home so I would know you guys were safe."

Mom rolled her eyes as she put down the wine glass from her lips. "God Hikaru, not with this shit again. I'm an adult, not a fucking child, I'm perfectly fine with looking after myself."

"I'm sorry," I said in a weak voice as I looked down, "I was just worried…"

"I don't need you worrying about me!" She yelled, causing me to look back up at her. "I'm your mother, I can do whatever the fuck I want without your input. I don't need a fucking brat lecturing on what I do!"

"Sorry…" I apologized again.

"Just go to your room." Mom spat as she lifted her glass back to her lips. "I don't want to see you for the rest of the day."

I nodded and obeyed her orders, not wanting to start anything with her when she was already this angry. As I was walking up the stairs I heard them began laughing again as they went back to their conversation, causing me to clench my fists as I continued my way up. I closed the door quietly to my room once I was inside and turned on the lights. I ran a hand through my dark hair as I let out a frustrated sigh. I was extremely tired, but I knew that I wouldn't be able to sleep with the migraine that was beginning to form, so I decided to just have one cigarette to help it go away.

I walked over to my nightstand and took out the open box of cigarettes and took one out, along with my lighter, then made my way over to the window and opened it enough so I could step onto the roof. I sat down in my usual spot and lit up the cigarette before taking in a long a drag and sighing out the smoke. It was so cold that I could feel my body start to grow numb and I could see my breath, but right now that was the least painful thing that has happened today, and it actually felt quite relaxing.

I stared at the houses around me, seeing all their Christmas decorations and still seeing some families up even though it was almost three in the morning. One of those houses were Mari's. Most of the cars that were there earlier today were gone, but I could still see her and her parents at the dinner table laughing with what I assumed were their family and friends. I could feel myself start to grow envious. I hated everything about Mari, I couldn't stand even being a hundred feet from her, but I was jealous of her home life. How her parents were so sweet and caring towards her, treating her like she's the only thing that matters in the world, while my mom treated me like I was only a burden when she was drunk.

A small part of me could hate Mari because I was jealous that her parents treated her so great. She probably got lots of gifts and a wonderful dinner with her family and friends...just like what my family used to do, and now it's the exact opposite.

I took one last long drag of my cigarette before burning it out as I continued to stare at the Yoshido's house.

"Merry fucking Christmas to me."

* * *

 **Hey guys, I hoped that you enjoyed this bonus chapter. I was conflicted if I should've made this part of the main story because there are some important keys to what's going to happen later on in the story (won't tell you what :P) but I just decided to make it a bonus because it was a holiday chapter. I also meant to update on Friday but I've been so busy that I only finished typing this chapter out yesterday. I also thought updating on Christmas would be a bad idea since people are usually busy, but I took a risk because having a Christmas chapter after Christmas is a little weird.**

 **Also, thank you for the supportive messages about my dog, but sadly the day after my last update we had to put him down, that one of the main reasons this chapter was a bit late. But even though I didn't want him to go I know that he's no longer in pain and is with my other dog in heaven.**

 **Now away from my sad life, I will update the next part of the main story as soon as I can...after I update some of my other stories that I've been neglecting. Reviews would be greatly appreciated, thank you. I hope you all have a Merry Christmas, and if you don't celebrate Christmas, Happy Holidays.**

 **Please Favorite, Follow, and Review. Until next time.-HH1957**


	17. Chapter 16

"Get out here!" Mom yelled as she pounded on my bedroom door. "I know you took my fucking wallet you ungrateful bastard!"

"I didn't take anything." I mumbled under my breath before taking a drag of my cigarette. "You just lost it."

It was late at night and I was sitting in my room in complete darkness, the only light in the room was the light from the moon coming from the window, as I sat down on the floor with my back to the closed door, feeling every vibration of her pounding on the door. Luckily, my door was able to lock, but I put myself up against it just in case she tried to kick it down. She's been trying to get to me out of my room for the past few hours when she discovered that her wallet wasn't in her purse and immediately thought it was me. Once I heard her yell my name as she stormed up the stairs yelling for me I locked my door and resumed doing my homework assignment as she yelled for me to come out and calling me vulgar names and slurs, but I just tuned her out by listening to music. I thought she would've tired herself out by the time I finished with my assignment but she only seemed to have gotten angrier. So, I just turned off the lights so I could go to bed once she was finished.

That was three hours ago and she didn't seem like she was going to stop anytime soon. I glanced over at the clock, it was 12:30 in the morning. I had school tomorrow so I would have to go to bed soon if I wanted to have a decent night sleep, but I knew it wouldn't be able to sleep while she's yelling and hitting my door. If it was even possible, mom was starting to become even worse. Ever since her work's New Year's party, she has brought home stronger alcohols, which caused her to become even more verbally and physically abusive. No matter what I did she would yell or hit me, even if I did as she said. So now I mostly stayed in my room so I wouldn't anger her until all the hard liquor she brought home was gone, and by how fast she's been drinking that shit it'll hopefully only last for a few more days if I'm lucky.

After a few more minutes of mom pounding on my door, it suddenly stopped and the room grew dead silent. I blew the smoke of the last drag I took and looked behind me at the door, seeing the light from the hallway from the bottom of my door turn off. Did mom finally tire herself out? I let out a sigh of relief that was finally over, but I soon felt myself grow a little tense when I didn't hear the door to her room close. I know that what I was planning to do was dumb and could possibly get me hurt, but I had to make sure that she was actually gone if I wanted to be able to sleep.

I placed my half burnt cigarette in my ashtray that I had between my crossed legs and stood up. I slowly unlocked the door, feeling my heart beating loudly in my chest. What the fuck was I doing? Mom may be drunk but she wasn't dumb, she most likely was waiting for me outside, she's done before when we were younger. I should just lock the door again and try to go to sleep, but right as I went to lock my door again I saw the door handle turn downward, causing my stomach to drop. Fuck, she must've heard me unlock the door!

Almost immediately I felt her try to push the door open with all her force, but I refused to let her in. I had my palms on the door and used all my strength to keep her from opening it, but for some reason, she had suddenly grown five times stronger in the past few minutes that it was becoming difficult to keep the door closed.

In only a matter of seconds, I could feel my muscles ache in my arms to the point that they were actually burning and the balls of my feet began to slide on the slick wood flooring away from the door. I soon had to switch to my back because my arms were about to give out at any moment and tried to use all my body and leg strength to keep the door from opening, but it was barely enough. How the fuck did she get this strong in only a matter of minutes?

"I might need your help Yuzuha," I heard Isao strain from behind the door.

Fuck, no wonder it was difficult to keep the door closed, Isao was the one trying to open the door now, not mom. She must've gotten him while she left so he could try and get in my room when I unlocked it. Isao was not even close to being a bodybuilder, but he was muscular and fit. I was lucky that I was able to even keep the door closed for so long with him pushing against the other side, but I knew once mom joined in I definitely wouldn't be able to hold the door, so I had to lock the door again as quick as I can.

I used the last ounce of my strength that I had to have the door close all the way for just enough time for me to move my hand back over to the door handle and locked it. I took a few steps away from the door and nervously stared at it. I could see my door shake from the pressure that was being applied to it, but it should be able to keep them out. After a few minutes passed, mom began yelling at me to get out again and calling me vulgar names, which I tried my best to just ignore as I went and grabbed my cigarette and ashtray before sitting at my desk.

An hour has passed and mom still hasn't tried herself and her yelling only grew louder, that I was afraid that our neighbors might actually call the cops. During that time I had finished my cigarette and lit up another one, which were the only things keeping me sane at the moment. I could feel myself start to doze off as I had my head laid on my knuckles. I didn't know if I actually fell asleep or not but the next thing I knew everything was silent again. I lifted my head and stared back at the door, waiting to see if I could hear them. Were they finally done? I really hoped so, I didn't know how much longer I could've taken before ripping my hair out.

With a tired sigh, I stood up from my desk chair and took one last drag from my cigarette before burning it out in the ashtray then began making my way over to my bed so I could finally get some sleep, but as I made it halfway to my bed I hear another loud pound on my door, causing me to instantly stop. I looked over towards the door and the loud pound happened again. I groaned, great, I guess they weren't finished. I shook my head and was about to continue making my way over to my bed, but before I could even take a step my door shot open, making me jump as it slammed into my wall.

I stared terrified at mom and Isao who stood in the dark hallway outside my room as if they were murders waiting to kill me. Isao had no particular expression on his face as he put his leg down, which indicated to me that he was the one who kicked my door open, while mom glowered at me furiously as she angrily clenched her fists at her sides.

"Thank you Isao, could you please search the room for my wallet while I deal with Hikaru?"

Isao nodded and did as mom told him as she began marching her way towards me. I took a couple steps back but ended up falling on my backside. As I saw her grow closer to me I used my hands to crawl back until my back was up against that wall, staring up at her petrified as she marched up to me, cornering me so I wouldn't be able to escape.

"M-Mom," I stuttered out terrified as I tried to bring myself closer to the wall, as if I would somehow be able to go through it, "I promise you that I didn't take anything."

"If you really were as innocent as you say you are, you wouldn't have locked yourself in your fucking room when I asked you if you've seen it." She hissed harshly.

She didn't ask me shit. When she found out that her wallet was missing she immediately blamed me for taking it. Maybe in her drunk mind she thought she asked me before storming up here, but nowadays I never knew what she thought anymore.

"Mom please you have to believe me. I would never-"

"Found it." Isao called out, making my eyes widened.

Mom and I turned our attention to him and saw that he was holding up mom's Louis Vuitton purse wallet that he pulled out from the drawer of my nightstand. How the fuck did her wallet end up there? I knew for a fact that I didn't take it. Was mom in my room earlier today thinking that it was hers and put it in there? That's happened before and was the only reason I could think of at the moment.

Mom turned back to me as she hardened her glare and was about to yell at me again when her nose suddenly scrunched up as if she smelled something foul. She looked over to where the smell was coming from and her glare turned murderous when she saw my ashtray on my desk with my half burnt cigarette in it.

"Not only did you steal my wallet," she stormed over to my desk and grabbed the cigarette that I only burnt out a few minutes ago before facing back towards me, "but you're doing this shit in my house?! You really are like you fucking father!"

"Mom I-"

"Shut it!" She barked, making me flinch. She then stormed back over to me before grabbing a fist full of my hair. I cried out in pain as she began dragging me to the center of my room, clawing at her hands so I could try to get her to let go, but her grip on my hair was too tight that if I got out she would take a chunk of my hair with her. "I try to be a fucking good mother and this is the shit I get!"

"I'm sorry mom." I cried as tears began welling up in my eyes from the pain and terror I was feeling at that very moment. "Please stop!"

Mom threw me back on the ground and towered over me as I stared up at her trembling. After a few more moments she held up my cigarette in her hand as her expression turned dark.

"You know," mom said as she flicked open my lighter that she had also picked up from my desk and relit the cigarette, "I'm getting really tired of all this shit Hikaru." She closed my lighter before tossing it to the side and knelt down beside me. "No matter what I do, you never respect me or your step-father, and we're getting sick of it." She then grabbed my arm and held the burning cigarette over it, causing my eyes to grow wide in terror. "Maybe this will finally teach you to respect us?"

She began to lower the cigarette closer to my arm, it already burning my skin as ash fell from it, but before it could touch my skin I ripped my arm out of her grip and turned over to try and escape, but mom hugged my body in a death grip so I couldn't move.

"No, let me go!" I cried as I tried to escape from her grip.

I tried my best to rip her hands off of me, but they would just grab me in a different location on my body before I could escape. I could tell that mom was having trouble holding onto me as I fought to try and get free. I was a lot stronger than her, even though when I was afraid of her my strength would be zapped away, I could fight back if I really needed to.

"Isao! Come help me pin him down!" Mom ordered.

The next thing I knew I felt Isao grab my arms and flip me over so I was laying on my back before putting me into a chokehold so I couldn't escape. I tried to claw at his hands and tried to thrash around to try and get out of his grip, but it was just too strong that it was futile. I then felt mom grab my right arm and held the cigarette above my arm again as I stared at it petrified.

"Mom...please…" I choked out a plea as tears streamed down my face, "please...don't do...this…"

Her glare just hardened down at me, which told me that she wasn't going to stop. She looked up at Isao as if she was silently telling him something before he used his free hand to cover my mouth, most likely that if I screamed the neighbors wouldn't hear it.

Mom lowered the cigarette to my skin and instantly I felt that section of my forearm shoot up in a burning pain. I let out a pain filled muffled scream that was muffled by Isao's hand and clenched my hand into a fist as if my body was trying to distract itself from the pain. I've been burnt before, but never as painful as this. I could literally hear the hissing of my burning skin until the cigarette burned out, leaving an awful aroma of burning flesh and tobacco.

I don't know how, but I somehow got my arm out of mom's grip and without even realizing what I was doing I hit mom in the face, making her fall back.

"Yuzuha!" Isao panicked before letting me go to run over to her side.

I let out a ragged breath before lifting up my trembling arm where I could faintly see the small circular burn mark that had formed. The pain had dulled quite a bit, but my arm still felt like it was on fire.

"Fuck." I quietly hissed as I held my arm to my chest before turning over to lay on my side, almost in a fetal position.

"You," I heard mom growled darkly. I looked over at her and instantly grew petrified again as I saw her stand up, "you fucking brat!"

Fuck! I forgot that I had hit her. I didn't mean to, it was out of pure adrenaline from the pain of being burned. I obviously wouldn't have purposely hit her because I knew it would make everything far worse.

I gulped and felt my body resume to trembling as she began storming her way back over to me. I couldn't move, my body was too terrified to try and run away from her.

"M-Mom I'm sorry." I stuttered out terrified. "I didn't mean to-"

Her foot came in contact with my face with a great amount of force, cutting me off. I immediately cupped my nose with my hands and felt what I was positive was blood drip onto my hands. I couldn't tell if it was broken or not, but it would most likely from the amount of pain coming from my nose and how much it was bleeding.

"God, now you ruined my fucking designer shoes!" Mom hissed. I squinted my eyes open to see what she was talking about and faintly saw through my tears a dark spot, what I assumed was blood, on the toe of her shoe. "Now I'm going to have to throw them out!" She hardened her scowl down at me, clenching her teeth when I didn't respond to her. She let out a growl before kicking me in the stomach, only causing me to grimace in pain.

"You fucking bastard," she spat as she continued to kick me, "how dare you ever lay a fucking hand on me. I do all this shit for you and this is how I get repaid for being your mother? I wish you would just disappear like your father!" She gave me one last hard kick to the gut, finally causing me to let out a small grunt. I could hear her panting, most likely from her being worn out from kicking me. "What do you have to fucking say to yourself?"

"I'm sorry…" I muffled out a soft cry. "I'm sorry…"

"Good." Mom hissed before I heard her turn around and make her way out of my room with Isao following behind her. "I swear, sometimes I wish you would just disappear. Then I wouldn't have to deal with your fucking presence anymore."

Once they left my room I remained in the same position that I was in for a few minutes before rolling onto my back, letting out a shaky breath as I finally let the tears welling up in my arms fall as I stared at the dark ceiling.

Maybe mom was right, it would be best if I just disappeared from this earth. No one would care if I was gone...except Kaoru, and he's the only reason why I'm still here.

* * *

"Hikaru?"

I jumped when I felt a hand touch my arm and yanked it from them out of instinct. I looked up and saw Kazukiyo across the table from me, looking concerned.

"Are you sure that you're alright? It seemed like you were spacing out again."

"Uh yeah," I answered in a small voice as I rubbed my forearm that mom burned. "I just have a lot on my mind."

"I don't want to pry or anything, but does it have anything to do with you getting jumped Sunday night?"

I only responded to his question by shrugging my shoulders before looking down at my hands, fiddling with the sleeve of my blazer. It's been three days since everything that happened that night. I was forced to stay home by mom for the past few days, not because she didn't want people to suspect anything, it was because she forgot that she had done it. When I woke up the next morning and she saw how bad my nose looked she suddenly became nurturing and kind and took care of me until she decided that I was well enough to go back to school. She brought over a doctor to make sure that my nose was alright. Luckily, it wasn't broken, just badly bruised and I had to ice it and wear a small bandage for a few days, which I was happy that I could take off tomorrow. The doctor asked me how I got hurt that badly and I just lied to him by saying that I was jumped while I was out on a night stroll, which I told Kazukiyo the same thing as an excuse for why I wouldn't be at school for the next few days after.

My nose was still bruised and hurt even by the slightest touch, but the swelling was gone so I practically begged mom to go to school because I couldn't stand being home any longer. Even though mom was being caring and sweet now, I was terrified that she was going to suddenly snap again. I haven't felt this terrified of her since last year when she stabbed me, but at least I was able to escape after that incident, but now I had nowhere to go. I could go back to Kyoya's, but I have a feeling that I would just be a burden to his family…

Since it was my first day back no one really besides Kazukiyo knew the _"reason"_ why I was out and I didn't want to really tell them either. So, since the weather was freezing I decided to wear a scarf to hide my nose the best I could. Mr. Hirota asked me to take my scarf off in class but once I pleaded him with my eyes to keep it on he seemed to understand and allowed me too. However, the next period, no matter how much I pleaded with her the teacher forced me to take it off or I would have to go to the chairman's office. I didn't want to risk getting in even more trouble than I already was at home so I took off my scarf, trying my best to ignore all the eyes that were on me and their whispering. Some people tried to ask me if I was ok and what happened to me but I would just walk away from them. I just wanted to be alone, which was a bit difficult since Mari was still trying to follow me wherever I went. I tried to hide from her in the hedge maze during lunch, but she found me and blabbered about whatever the hell was happening in her life as she ate her lunch, but I couldn't have cared less. She did question a little why I was acting so depressed but when I didn't answer her she just went back to talking about herself.

Kazukiyo saw that I was spacing out again and closed his textbook. "How about we end our session early today?" He said, causing me to break out of my reverie and look back at him. "I can give you all the information that you'll need to study for the test tomorrow."

"There's a test tomorrow?"

He nodded. "Yeah, didn't you know? I sent you an email about in on Monday. Didn't you get it?"

"Uh no...I haven't had my phone for the past few days. My mom took it away from me so I could just focus on recovering. I only got it back this morning and haven't checked any of my emails."

"Well, we have a math test tomorrow on lesson 16. We've been studying that lesson since before winter break, so I don't think it'll be that hard with you missing a couple of days." He pulled out a piece of notebook paper from his binder and began writing a few noted for me. "Here is what the test is going to mainly focus on. So if you follow that you'll most likely be fine."

Once he finished writing he slid the note over to me on the table. I took the note in my hand and looked over it until I heard him begin to pack up.

"What are you doing?" I asked. "We still have forty-five minutes left."

"I told you that we should end early today. You should go home and relax."

A chill went down my spine when he mentioned going home. I didn't want the session to end, that would mean that I would have to see mom earlier then I prepared myself for. What if when I got home she was back to being hateful and abusive because I came back earlier than usual? It's happened before when Haruhi and I began our tutoring sessions and I don't think I could handle it if it happened again right now with me being in a weak state of mind right now.

"N-No, I' fine." I falsely stated, hoping he didn't hear the stutter in my voice. "Forty-five minutes isn't that long. I can handle the rest of the tutoring session and I really need help studying for this test."

"Hikaru, I really think that it won't help if you keep spacing out. You just-"

"I promise that I'll pay attention if we continue."

"You really need rest Hikaru. If you're having trouble studying at home then you can just text me and I'll-"

"Please!" I pleaded as I cut him off again. He looked at me a bit shocked by my pleas, probably from never seeing me this weak before. I could feel tears welling up in my eyes but covered my eyes with my hands before he could notice them. "I don't want to go home…"

"Hikaru, is everything alright?" Kazukiyo asked concerned. He's never seen me act this vulnerable before. I was usually stoned face with everything emotional at school because I hated people trying to comfort me. "Why don't you want to go home?"

"I'm terrified…" I whispered in a shaking voice, just barely audible.

"Terrified of what?"

I just remained silent. I couldn't tell him about mom, even if I begged him he would most likely tell someone about mom's alcoholic abuse because he would be worried about my safety. I was lucky that Haruhi and Kyoya promised to keep the abuse a secret by persuading them to, but I knew that Kazukiyo would break out of fret if I had him keep the secret as well.

"Does it have to do with anything about you getting jumped? If that's the case you told me that the police arrested them the day after the attack." He tried to reassure me. "So you don't have to worry about them hurting you again."

"I…" I took in a shaky breath. I wish that my story was actually true, then I could safely go home and not have to worry about it happening again, but sadly my life wasn't that easy. I swallowed the lump in my throat before continuing. "You're right…" I lied. "There's nothing to be afraid of...they're gone…"

"Hey," Kazukiyo spoke up again as he walked over to me, my body tensing up as I felt his hand on my shoulder, "if you ever want to talk you have my number. I may not be much help but I'll be there for you if you need me."

I just nodded, not being able to find my voice. He gave me a comforting pat on the shoulder before saying goodbye and leaving the library. I took in a deep breath after a minute or so and wiped the tears from my eyes before they could fall. I then looked back over at the paper that Kazukiyo wrote what I needed to study for. I slid the paper over to me and looked over what he wrote. Maybe I could try and kill the remainder of the time here studying for the test so I wouldn't have to go home so early. I really needed the study time and I would be too worried about mom if I studied at home, and this could also keep me out for a few more hours.

When I decided that was the best plan I grabbed my math book to begin to study, but as I was about to open my textbook I heard the door to the library open, causing me to instinctively look over and saw Kyoya walk into the room. Shit! Why did he have to come to the library that I was in? I didn't tell him about what happened a few nights ago and when he called me to ask why I was missing so much school I lied and said I got sick, which I have a feeling he didn't believe. If he found out what really happened, I didn't know what he would do.

Luckily, it seemed like he didn't notice me as he walked into an aisle and I took that time to pack up all my supplies. I could just study at a cafe or something similar that seemed like the best option right now so I wouldn't have to deal with Kyoya's anger and mom's abuse.

Once I zipped up my bag, I threw my scarf around my neck as I began walking towards the exit of the library, covering my bruised nose. I made sure to pass Kyoya's aisle when he was distracted so he wouldn't see me and made my way out of the library. I let out a sigh of relief once I was out in the hall, thanking God that he didn't see me, and began making my way down the hall towards the exit of the school. I lightly rubbed my nose as it began to hurt from the scarf being too tight around it. The pain had grown dull over the past few days instead of feeling like I was being stabbed by hundreds of needles like yesterday, so I was glad about that. I let out another sigh as I readjusted the scarf around my neck, so it wouldn't put too much pressure on my nose.

As I turned the corner I stopped in my tracks when I saw Haruhi talking to a male student. He had a kinda scary, uglish face and red hair with a small ponytail at the crown of his head. He looked like a slob so he definitely wasn't in A or B, he must've been a D student, but why was he talking to Haruhi? They seemed to know each other by how comfortable they were talking to each other.

I could feel myself start to grow jealous as I saw Haruhi smile at something he said, which seemed to please the guy. I knew that fucking look that was the look I usually gave Haruhi whenever we used to talk. The loving stare that he was giving her made me just want to run up and beat the shit out of him, but I knew that Haruhi would only hate me more then she already did if I did that to what I assumed was a friend of hers. So I just clenched the handle of my bag so I could resist the urge to attack him and continued walking, quickening my pace as I got closer to them. For a few seconds my eyes locked with Haruhi's, her smile falling as soon as our eyes met, but what shocked me was that Haruhi actually looked sad. She hasn't looked at me like that since we first broke off our friendship. It was probably because of my bruised nose that she was feeling pity towards me. Usually, I would hate that someone felt that way towards me, but I was glad that Haruhi wasn't just giving me that impassive expression anymore, hopefully, it'll last.

"Are you alright Fujioka?" The guy asked, snapping Haruhi out of our trance and I finally realized that I had stopped walking. She looked back over at the guy and her smile returned. "Sorry, it's nothing. What were you saying?"

I just looked down dolefully before shoving my hands into my pockets and resuming making my way towards the exit, trying my best to ignore the conversation behind me.

* * *

For the next few hours, I went to a local Starbucks and studied the best I could. I told myself that I would leave once I finished my drink, so to make sure I would stay as long as possible I got the hottest temperature in the largest cup they had and nursed my drink so I could stay out as long as possible.

I pulled out my keys as I made it to my front door and unlocked the door. I wanted to try and sneak up to my room so I could avoid mom as much as I could, but as I closed the door softly behind me I heard footsteps coming from the kitchen.

"Hikaru," mom greeted happily as she walked over to me. She cupped my face and forced me to look down at her, "how was school today sweetie?"

"I-"

"How's your nose?" She asked as if she forgot the first question she asked me. She lightly brushed her thumb along my nose, making me wince as the pain shot through my nose. Mom's expression fell when she saw that I was in pain and cupped my face again. "My poor baby. I still can't comprehend why anyone would do this to you." She removed her hands from my face and grabbed my arm before tugging me towards the kitchen. "Come on, let's go ice your nose."

"Mom I fine, I really need to-"

"Hush," she said as she walked up to the kitchen table and forced me down in a chair, "you stay there while I go get an ice pack."

She patted my head before making her way to the fridge to grab an ice pack. I couldn't help but tremble as I watched her, all I wanted to do right now was take this opportunity while she was distracted to rush to my room, but I knew that she would get angry if she saw that I was gone. I felt like a cornered animal.

Once she got enough ice in the ice bag she closed the cap and made her way back over to me. "Here baby put this on your nose."

"Mom really, I'm fine-"

She literally pushed the ice bag to my nose, causing me to gasp in pain as soon as the bag touched my nose. "Ow, mom stop. You're hurting me."

"Don't be silly Hikaru. I'm helping you ice your nose. Now stay still."

She moved the ice bag, causing my nose to hurt more. I grabbed the bag to try and get her to apply less pressure on it, "Mom really, you're hurting me. Please stop, I'll just-"

"I said stay still!" She shouted. I instantly obeyed her orders, placing my hands in my lap. She placed the ice bag back on my nose, causing me to let out a grunt, which only seemed to anger her more. She threw the ice pack at the wall, resulting in me jumping as the ice pack particularly exploded loudly on the wall. I looked up at mom, who was now scowling down at me. "I'm trying to fucking help, and you're thanking me by complaining?!"

"M-Mom I-"

"Shut up!" She yelled before slapping me, I cowered in fear in my seat, placing my arms on the table to hide and protect my face as I laid my head on the table. My breathing began to quicken along with my heartbeat, in fear of what might happen to me as she continues yelling at me. "God, I'm just trying to be a good mother by helping you, but you're too much of a fucking brat to appreciate it!"

"I'm sorry…" I apologized in a frightened, but hushed voice. "I'm sorry…"

"Oh baby, it's quite alright." She said in her cheery voice again as she grabbed me and hugged my head to her stomach. I tried my best to hold in another pain-filled grunt in fear that it would anger her again. "I know you're sorry. You just have to realize that all I want to do is help you, alright?"

"Yes, mom…" I muffled in her stomach. "I know…"

She separated from me and cupped my face again so I was looking up at her. Her smile was sweet, but not motherly. It was as if she was looking at me as if I was just a pet she was taking care of.

I could feel tears began to burn in the back of my eyes. But I refused to let them come out as mom stared at me, not wanting to show her any more weakness.

"Now you sit here while I'll start dinner." She gave me a kiss on the forehead before making her way to the kitchen. "I'm making your favorite."

I remained in my seat as she cooked, too afraid to even try and get up in fear that she would snap again. I watched her while she cooked, to make sure that she wouldn't hurt herself. I couldn't tell what she was making because I was too far away to see, but from the smell coming from the kitchen, I could definitely tell I wasn't going to like it. For the next twenty minutes, mom stumbled around the kitchen as she cooked. I tried to help her when I grew worried that she was going to cut herself while chopping up something, but she would just tell me to go sit back down, which I obeyed to.

When there was about five minutes left until dinner was ready Isao arrived home from work, to my dismay. He completely ignored me as he made his way to the kitchen to help mom with anything she needed. Ever since Christmas, I made it clear that I wanted nothing to do with Isao. He tried apologizing and give me a bull shit excuse saying, "I'm really sorry, I just didn't want to anger her any further."

Then with the shit that happened a few nights ago. I could barely even stomach looking at him. He had helped mom abuse me before, but I was a bit fearful that if mom snapped during dinner that he would help her again.

Once mom finished cooking dinner, she had Isao set the table before she brought out the food and placed it at the center of the table. I looked at what she made, expecting to see a burnt, almost charcoal version of an Italian dish, but it wasn't. It was actually a perfectly cooked pan of stir fry...I hated stir fry...but it was Isao's favorite dish…

But I knew that if I didn't eat any of it, it would only anger mom so I forced myself to eat at least one plate of it, but I could barely finish half the meal before my body felt like it couldn't keep any more of it down. So, when mom and Isao were distracted with their conversation I scooped my leftovers back into the pan.

After dinner, I tried to go up to my room to study, but mom kept insisting that I stay down and have dessert and spend some family time with them. I knew that trying to convince my mom to let me go would be futile and only anger her, so I went along. We played some board games that mom in the back of the closet for a few hours while we ate some brownies that Isao had brought home from work. Most of the games went by smoothening and even though I was terrified of mom snapping again, I actually had a little fun, until the last game. We were playing Life and it first started off nicely as the other games, but about halfway mom's mood began to turn sour because she kept landing on bad spaces.

"It's your turn honey." Isao said after moving his game piece.

Mom glared at the board for a few seconds before spinning the wheel and having it stop on seven. She moved her car number of spaces and her glare hardened at the space she landed on.

"Tornado hits house, pay $125,000. What the fuck? Why do I keep landing on all the bad spaces?"

I shrugged my shoulders. "This game is just mostly out of luck." I spun the wheel, landing on a ten and moved that number of spaces. "TV game show winner, collect $95,000."

Mom cursed under her breath before grabbing some money from the box and throwing it at me. "Here's your fucking money."

I began to grow nervous as mom only seem to grow angrier. I knew that in only a matter of minutes she would snap if she didn't hand next on a good space. I gulped as I heard Isao spin the wheel.

"Mom, maybe we should end the game early. It's late and I really need to-"

"Shut up!" She barked, causing me to jump a bit. "We're having family time right now and none of us are going anywhere until we finish this game."

"I know mom but-"

"I said shut it! I don't want to hear another word out of you until it's your turn. You get that?!"

I looked down, nodding in response. Mom's next turn didn't go well either, landing on the burglar space and giving up $50,000. When it was my turn I could feel mom's glare on me as I spun a six and moved my piece, but as I read the space I landed on I could feel my blood grow cold.

"What did you land on Hikaru?" Mom growled out.

I looked back up at mom, meeting her dark glare. I really wanted to lie about the space I landed on so she wouldn't be mad, but I knew that once I moved it would reveal that I was lying it would only anger her more.

I gulped before answering in a small voice. "Find buried treasure. Collect $80,000…"

Mom's expression turned furious and swiped the game off the table, sending the game pieces and money everywhere.

"Screw this fucking game!" She cursed before landing her eyes on me, who was cowering on the couch. "You cheated, didn't you?"

"No, I didn't cheat mom." I answered truthfully, but she didn't buy it.

"Don't you fucking lie to me. You landed on all the good spaces while I landed on all the bad ones!"

"I promise that I'm not lying mom. It was just out of luck. I don't even think you can cheat in this game."

Mom growled in response before grabbing my forearm and tugged me off the couch. Before I could even catch my balance she threw me to the floor harshly. I didn't have a lot of time to react to the throbbing pain in my side as I heard her footsteps coming towards me and grabbed my shirt collar as she knelt down next to me, lifting me up so our faces were only a few inches apart. To say that I was terrified was an understatement. I couldn't feel an inch of my body as if I were paralyzed, but I did feel my body began to tremble under her dark, death intent glare.

"Mo-Mom I promise I didn't cheat." I finally was able to stutter out, feeling tears welling up in my eyes from fear as her glare only hardened. "It-It was just out of luck-"

"Shut it!" She snapped, causing me to flinch and look away, too scared to even look at her. "When are you going to fucking realize I can see through all your bull shit lies Hikaru?!"

"M-Mom I-"

"I said shut it!" She hissed harshly, which only made me tremble more.

Then the sound of glass breaking caused my heart to stop and once I opened my eyes to see what I broke the color immediately drained in my face. In mom's hand was a broken bottle of champagne that she was drinking out of while we were playing the board games. As I stared at the sharp edges of the broken bottle, memories of what happened last year began to flood through my mind. My breathing began to grow heavy as my heartbeat quickened, almost to the point that I thought it would burst out of my chest. I was going to try and get my body to move so I could try to get away, but before I could even try mom put the end of the broken bottle up to my neck, making me remain still.

This was it, I was going to die, and over a stupid fucking board game. I was no longer going to be able to see Kaoru again, or protect him when he comes back...and I'll never be able to officially apologize to Haruhi. Tears began trailing down my faces as I felt the cold, sharp glass touch my neck.

"Mom, please stop." I pleaded desperately.

"Then admit that you cheated!"

"But I-"

I cried out as she pressed the bottle closer to my neck, almost to the point that it would break skin.

"Admit it!"

"I'm sorry!" I cried. "I cheated playing the game. I'm sorry!"

Mom's furious expression faltered and she let go of my collar. I let go a ragged breath in relief. "See, that wasn't so hard now was it?"

"I'm sorry…" I breathed out weakly, which mom just responded with a soft smile as she caressed my tear stained cheek.

"Awe, I know you are honey but, " the next thing I felt was a sharp, burning pain across my chest as mom used the bottle to slash from my left shoulder to the mid part of the right of my chest in a diagonal line, "you still need to be punished for cheating and lying."

As mom stood up I rolled onto my left side and brought my hands to my chest, feeling my shirt began to get wet as blood began to seep out of the cuts.

I heard the bottle drop on the floor behind me before I heard mom began to head towards the stairs. "I'm going to bed." She said in her sickening cheery voice as she ascended up the stairs, but stopped halfway to look down at me. "Oh, and thanks for cleaning up honey. I really appreciate it."

She then went to her room, to where Isao was waiting for her for about five minutes as he left after mom threw the game of the table. I remained where I was for a few minutes, staring at the front door in the dark living room, where the only light there was from the kitchen.

What was I still even doing here? I could've run away a long time to escape this Hell. One of my excuses was that I was waiting for Kaoru, but I could just tell him where I would be staying at so once he got home he could live with me. Every second that I remain in this house I get closer and closer to death...but if I leave, mom would never get the help that she needs, especially since Isao isn't doing anything about it. She would just drink herself to death and I would feel guilty that I didn't stick around to save her…

So that's the only reason why I am staying here.

* * *

I quietly groaned as I felt the burning pain in my chest as I woke up. After I cleaned up the living room last night I got the first aid kit to patch up the cuts. Luckily the cuts weren't that deep so I wouldn't need to get any stitches so after cleaning them the bleeding stopped so I didn't bother bandaging them since the cut was so long and didn't want to waste any of the medical supplies that I might need in the future.

I slowly opened my eyes and was greeted by the morning sun shining through the window. I blinked a bit, letting my eyes adjust, seeing that still sitting at my desk. Papers and pencils were sprawled out on the desk along with my math book that was opened to the lesson I was studying. I must've fallen asleep while studying. I didn't remember doing so, but after all that happened last night, I guess my body was just so exhausted that after only a few hours of studying I just knocked out.

I slowly sat up and raised my arms to stretch the crick in my neck and back, but as I raised my arms, the burning sensation in my chest only grew. I groaned again as I lightly traced the cut with my hand as if that was going to help with anything, but I knew it wouldn't.

As I began to wake up more, I noticed something a bit odd. My room was a lot brighter than it usually was when I woke up. It was as if it was later in the morning rather than six…

My eyes suddenly went wide at that realization and looked over at the clock, growing horrified. It was 10:25! Shit! My math class was going to start in five minutes. I must've forgotten to set my fucking alarm! I literally launched out of my chair and got ready as quick as I could. I tried to multitask by brushing my teeth and getting changed, ignoring the pain of the cuts on my chest the best I could so it wouldn't slow me down. I didn't bother brushing my hair or try to look presentable as I took off the bandage off my nose and ran back over to my desk to shoved everything messily in my bag before rushing out of my room.

If it gets out to Mr. Suoh that I was late without a proper excuse he would pass it over to mom...and I didn't know what she would do, but I knew it would be far worse than what happened last night.

* * *

I ran down the hall towards my math class, not stopping no matter how much my legs burned and out of breath I was. The class started almost half an hour ago and because of fucking traffic, I was even later than I would've been.

I finally made it to my class and opened the door, drawing everyone's attention over to me from their tests.

"I'm...I'm here…" I panted out, only causing the teacher to glare at me.

"Well, I'm glad you decided to interrupt the class taking their test to announce your entrance Mr. Hitachiin."

"Mrs. Amari I-"

"I don't want to hear your excuses today." She said as she handed out a test to me. "Just take your test and sit down."

I nodded and took the test from her before heading to my seat. I flipped through the pages of the test, seeing what seemed like hundreds of questions (which were probably only about twenty) and began to feel the stress of everything came crashing down on me as I flipped back to the front page. I looked at the other students in the room, seeing that most of them were still working. How was I going to finish this in twenty minutes while the rest of the class had almost an hour? I gulped and looked down at the test to see the first question.

 _If AE=EC, what is the length of AB?_

 _A.) AC=10_

 _B.) x=30_

 _C.) A &B_

...

I blinked a bit before reading the question again and looked at the figure that was given to me...This wasn't what I studied for. I flipped through the test again, seeing that all the questions were none of the types of equations that I studied for and began to panic. But I studied the lesson that Kazukiyo told me to study Lesson 17, but on the top of the test it says…

 _'Well, we have a math test tomorrow on lesson 16.'_

Shit, I studied for the wrong lesson! With everything that happened yesterday, I must've gotten the lessons mixed up. Ok, ok, calm down. Try to remember anything before winter break from any of the lessons or homework. I re-read the question and tried to work my way through it.

 _'Ok, so side AE and EC are equal, that means I can deduce that this is an isosceles triangle in the diagram. Side AC has a length of 10. If I move the square up or down it will change the length of AB so that means that's not sufficient. So if I add x=30 to the diagram, that doesn't help side AB, just one length and since I'm given no length in this diagram I apply the rule I did earlier, so that also makes B insufficient. For C, if I add all the information to the diagram from the two other options it shows that the statements from A and B combined forces the diagram into only one possible shape, so side AB is forced into having only one length so the two answers combined force side AB into having exactly one length. Which means the statement together is sufficient.'_

I circled C then looked back at all the work that I just did, a small smile spreading across my face as I stared at the work I just did, feeling it click in my mind as I went to the next problem, not wasting any more time.

For the next fifteen minutes I felt like I was making great progress as I finished the front page and flipped to the next page on the back, but as I began jolting down the work for the next problem, a hand suddenly appeared out of nowhere and swiped away my test from me. I blinked a bit as I began to realize what just happened and looked up to see Mrs. Amari frowning down at me.

"I told everyone multiple times to pass up their papers Mr. Hitachiin, but I guess you weren't paying attention like usual."

She turned to leave and I began to panic when she began walking back to her desk.

"Wait, I'm not finished yet."

"Well, that's what you get for being late," She said, "and before you ask if you can finish your test after class, you should already know that I don't allow that."

I just watched her as she placed my test on top of the pile of the other students' before going over to the whiteboard to write what we were going to do for the remainder of the class period. I quietly groaned as I laid my head down in my arms, not caring if I hurt my nose in the process. All I wanted to do was cry right now. If mom literally almost killed me over a fucking board game last night, what was she going to do when she found out I failed this test? Just the thought of what might happen to me sent a chill down my spine as I tightened my arms around my face as if it was a protective barrier.

"Mr. Hitachiin," I moved so my eyes were exposed and looked at Mrs. Amari and saw that she was frowning at me again, "I would appreciate it if you would lift your head up and pay attention to what I have to say."

If this was a couple of months ago I would've just glared at her and quipped back at her for targeting me all period, but I didn't have the energy too, and I also didn't want to anger mom any further for disrespecting a teacher. So I listened to her and lifted my head, secretly wiping the tears that were welling up in my eyes with my blazer sleeve then laid my head in my hand as Mrs. Amari went back to speaking.

"I'll have all your tests graded by the end of the class, but in the meantime, you all will have a group assignment. I've already grouped everyone up into groups of four on the board. So look who you guys are grouped up with then group up with them please."

I looked over at the board and saw my name under group four with Kimiko, Kozue...and Haruhi…

I literally felt my stomach drop as I saw Haruhi's name below mine. Great, this day keeps getting better and better. Maybe I should ask Mrs. Amari if I could switch groups, but knowing that she has a strong disliking for me, she probably wouldn't listen to my request and tell me that I'll have to deal with it. I looked over towards Haruhi and saw her packing her items, and not acknowledging me whatsoever as she made her way over to the other girls in our group. The girl with the two blue bows in her hair, who I assumed was Kozue, smiled over at me and waved for me to come over. I looked back over at Haruhi, who still had her back towards me and gulped before grabbing my bag and made my way over to my group and took a seat in the open desk, which unfortunately was next to Haruhi.

Please God, let this go smoothly. I'm already having a bad enough day as it is.

* * *

 **Haruhi**

"Is this correct Haruhi?" Kimiko asked as she pushed her paper towards Haruhi.

Haruhi looked over her group member's work to see if she had gotten the formula and side work correct, then checked her own answer before nodding. "Yep, it's correct."

"Yay," she cheered as she took back her worksheet, "that means we're done."

"And with ten minutes to spare," Kozue added happily, "so we can talk about whatever we want."

"So Haruhi, when do you plan on coming back to the Host Club? Everyone misses you, especially Tamaki."

"Yeah, aren't you and Tamaki dating? I overheard him talking about how you've been avoiding him for about a month."

Haruhi immediately felt uncomfortable about the question. She still hasn't broken up with Tamaki officially because she didn't want to see him ever again for cheating on her, and she thought avoiding him would've made it clear to him that they were over, but she guessed not. Haruhi subconsciously looked over at Hikaru, seeing that he wasn't even paying attention. He was doodling on the back of his paper as he laid his head in his hand. She knew that he would've been quiet through them all working together, but she sometimes caught him just staring off for a bit until someone, who wasn't Haruhi, pulled him back to reality, then would apologize in a weak voice before trying to help again, but seemed too afraid to speak sometimes. He's been acting like this since yesterday ever since he came back to school after missing three days. By seeing how his nose was badly bruised yesterday she was positive his mom had something to do with his change of demeanor. The bruising on his nose was slightly better than yesterday, but there was now a faint bruise on his left cheek...as if he has been slapped.

"Haruhi?" Kimiko called out, breaking Haruhi out her thought. "Do you know when you'll be back?"

Haruhi shrugged. "I don't know. I've been pretty busy and haven't had a lot of free time lately. I don't know when I'll be able to come back."

"Well, we'll be waiting for you when you finally come back." Kimiko smiled, which made Haruhi start to feel guilty.

She didn't plan on ever returning to the Host Club because she couldn't bear to see Tamaki, let alone be in the same room as that bastard for a few hours after school, but she didn't want to let her guest down and have them wait for her almost every day while she had no intentions of coming back.

"So Hikaru," Haruhi broke out of her thought at Kozue's voice and saw that the girl was facing towards Hikaru with a sweet smile, "how had Kaoru been in New York?"

It seemed as if Hikaru didn't hear her as he continued to doodle on his worksheet. From getting close to him while they were friends, Haruhi began to notice whenever Hikaru was really deep in thought he would doodle lines or random shapes, but sometimes she noticed whenever his mom would hurt him worse than usual than slap or yelling at him, he would doodle stick figures on his paper, as if he was vaguely recreating the events of what happened to him. Haruhi took a peek at his doodle and saw that he was drawing what seemed to look like a broken liquor bottle with dark liquor falling from one of the large shards of glass...or blood…

Just staring at the picture sent a cold shiver down her spine. Could this indicate what his mother did to him a few days ago? She knew that his mother either punched or kicked him because of his bruised nose, but what does the bottle have to do with that? Could something have…

"Hikaru?" Kozue touched Hikaru's forearm and as her hand touched him he immediately jumped and ripped his arm away from her and looked at Kozue with a terrified expression that made Haruhi's chest hurt. When Hikaru finally realized what was going on he let his frightened expression falter and grew slightly embarrassed, but Haruhi could still tell that he was terrified from his eyes.

"Hikaru, are you alright?" Kazue asked concerned.

Hikaru looked at his group members, seeing that they were all worried about him. Even Haruhi didn't fight back to keep her expression neutral this time like she's been doing for the past month. Haruhi knew Hikaru hated whenever people pitied him and she's noticed that if he's really nervous like he's been for the past few days was that when people pitied him, it would only make him even more nervous than before while he'd usually be angry.

He swallowed the lump in his the lump in this throat before taking in a shaky breath. "Ye-Yeah…" He stood up from his chair. "I just need some air."

* * *

It's been ten minutes and Hikaru still hasn't returned yet. All the students have already passed up their group assignment and have returned to their assigned seats. Haruhi was having a difficult time trying to convince herself that there was nothing to worry about and that he was fine, but she knew that she was just kidding herself. When he left she caught herself almost chasing after him, but her stubbornness made her stay where she was.

Even though she wouldn't admit it to herself, she wasn't really mad at him anymore, she actually kind of missed him. He might have been a difficult person when they first knew each other, but he had a reason to be. His mother, who is supposed to love you unconditionally no matter what, is abusing him for shit he didn't even do and his father just up and disappeared. Then with Kaoru in New York until the spring, he had no one…

It took Haruhi a few weeks, but Haruhi was finally able to break her way into his heavily guarded heart, that nobody else has ever got close to doing. He began to let go of the tough guy facade that he had up and began showing her who he really was. He was a sweet and caring, a little clingy at times but she understood why. He was similar to an abused puppy and when they finally trusted someone they would keep close to the person they trust and protected them. He was nothing like all the rumors she was told about him, almost the exact opposite actually. He'd never once tried to take a pass at her or any other girl that she's seen when she's around him. They were the ones who usually made passes at him, but he would ignore them. He wasn't manipulative or what Tamaki said "the devil" in human form, but I guess he wanted people to see him that way. So they would hate him so he wouldn't get close to him in fear that he'll get hurt by them...just like what Haruhi has done.

She knew that Hikaru wasn't to blame for what happened that night. He tried to stop her from drinking, but she pressured him to join her. It was her fault that they ended up sleeping together...but she used him as a scapegoat...and even when he tried to fix everything between them she wouldn't allow it.

She now wished that she took his offer to talk and work things out instead of just breaking things off, but she felt it was too late now to try and rekindle their anything now...Just that morning she was just overwhelmed with everything that had happened between Tamaki cheating on her to sleeping with Hikaru, she took out all her anger and distress on him because he was there, even though the reason why they slept together was her fault.

She lost her virginity to him from drunken, most likely rebound sex. Which she didn't want to lose it that way at all. She wanted it to be romantic and with the right person, like how a lot of hopeless romantics dreamt it to be, but that wasn't going to happen. She knew that Hikaru was also affected negatively, but she wasn't sure if it was for the same reason. Even after getting close to him to the point that he would almost tell her everything, she still didn't know if he was a virgin or not (if he was he certainly wasn't one now). She would've thought if she still didn't know him, that he would've been far from a virgin with all the female students chasing after him, but as she got to know him she highly doubt he would be that easy to get into bed. Especially when he would barely let anyone touch him, but he allowed her to...He trusted her so much that he allowed Haruhi to touch him without him flinching and even allowed her to hug him, which he didn't allow anyone else to do at all…

Haruhi broke out of her deep thought when she heard the door open and saw Hikaru walking into the classroom. Out of habit, Haruhi turned away from him before he could notice her staring as he made his way back to his desk. She could smell the earthy musk of his cologne as he walked by which indicated to Haruhi that he used his time out to calm his nerves by smoking. She was upset that he was still smoking after he promised Kaoru and her that he would try to quit, but she guessed the stress of everything was just too much for him right now.

"Alright," Mrs. Amari said as she organized the stack of papers in her hands before standing up from her desk, "since everybody is finally back I'll pass back your graded your tests."

She heard Hikaru let out a deep sigh as the teacher began passing back the tests. As Haruhi got her test back she was disappointed to see with her grade. Yes, she got an A, but it was a low A, about one point away from a B. She'd admit that her grades have dropped a bit since the whole ordeal because she's felt too much like shit to bring herself to study or would catch herself spacing out, wondering what Hikaru…

Haruhi shook her head before she could finish that thought and took a glance over at Hikaru, who was staring out the window as his test was laid face down on his desk. She knew that Hikaru didn't even look at his test to know that he failed since he was only able to finish about half the test. From what Haruhi remembered, whenever Hikaru failed a test the teachers were instructed by Mr. Suoh to call or email his mother, telling her that he was most likely slacking off, even though that wasn't true.

Hikaru might've looked like he didn't care at all about failing the test, but Haruhi could the dread in his eyes that gave her an uneasy feeling in her stomach.

* * *

 **Hikaru**

I've been sitting in my car for the past thirty minutes, fiddling with a button on my blazer as I stared at my house. Kazukiyo decided that he would cancel our sessions for the rest of the week, which was against my wishes because he felt like I was still too affected by being "jumped" to pay attention. I was going to stick around at school for a couple of hours to try my best to avoid going home, but people kept coming up to me to ask if I was ok or try to get me to tell them what happened again, so I decided to just leave. Sometimes I wish people were still afraid of me so they would stop bothering me, but I guess when Haruhi became my friend they must've thought I wasn't that bad of a guy after all...which right now I hated because I just wanted to be alone. I looked up at the sky and say dark clouds were forming. It looked like it was going to rain any second. It would be best to leave now if I didn't want to get caught up in the rain.

"Let's just get this over with." I sighed out as I turned off the ignition to my car.

I grabbed my bag from the passenger seat before exiting my car and slowly made my way over to the front door. I took in a deep breath before unlocking the door and entering the house. I looked around the living room as I closed the door, not seeing mom anywhere, but even though I didn't see her I knew that she was home because her car was out in the driveway. I walked over to the couch and placed my bag down and took off my blazer as it began to feel a little too hot to wear at the moment as I felt my heart began to pound loudly in my chest as I heard heel clicking from the kitchen, making their way to the living room.

"Hikaru," I heard mom's voice as she stopped before entering the kitchen, "are you home already?"

I swallowed the lump in my throat before smiling over at her nervously. "My tutor had to cancel today because of a personal family emergency." I lied.

"Oh, well I hope everything is ok." Mom said, actually concerned. Which confused me.

Wasn't she supposed to be mad? I failed a test and the teachers were required to contact mom or Isao whenever I failed. Did they forget to contact her? I really hope that was the case and they don't plan on contacting her later tonight. Although, I'll mostly stay in my room tonight just in case that happens.

Mom smiled warmly at me. "Well, I'm glad that you are home early today. I didn't want you to get caught up in the rain. There are stupid people driving out there and I wouldn't want you to get hurt."

"Yeah…"

"Also, since you're home so early you can help me with dinner. Since it's supposed to be pouring down rain in about an hour I wanted to make a warm homemade meal. I'm sure you and Isao would love that."

"Sounds delicious mom." I said, knowing that it'll probably be the opposite.

She turned and was about to walk back into the kitchen when she remembered something. "Oh, speaking of rain. I left some blankets outside to dry after I washed them. Can you be a dear and bring them in for me while I prepare for dinner."

"Sure mom."

"Awe," she walked over to me and cupped my cheek, making my body stiffen as her dry, rough hand touched my face, "this is why I love you." She patted my cheek before leading me to the French back door and grabbed onto the handle. "The blankets are on the porch to the right, next to the porch swing. There should be around four folded up there."

I nodded and walked outside as she opened the door for me. Even though I was relieved that no one has contacted mom about my failing grade, I still didn't want to be around her. Especially after what happened yesterday. With the stronger alcohol that she still had, her abuse has been a lot worse than usual. One of the days that I was forced to stay home I took a peek into the alcohol cabinet to see how many of the stronger liquors she had left and what frightened me was that there seemed to be more than there was a couple of days prior. I didn't know if Isao bought her more or she got some from her work that was still left over from the New Year's party. I was tempted to try and throw some of the alcohol down the drain, but I knew if mom found out she would immediately accuse me because I've done it before in the past. So I wouldn't want to risk the punishment she would give me if I did it again.

I walked over towards the porch swing and grew confused when I didn't see any blankets. I looked around the porch swing to see if she hid them somewhere to protect them from the rain, but I couldn't find them. I even checked if they fell onto the grass, just in case mom had them on the railing, but nothing was there.

I soon began to feel droplets of rain to fall and seeing how only in a matter of seconds that it went from a little drizzle to actual rain and thunder in the distance told me it'll begin to pour in only a matter of minutes.

"Mom, are you sure that you put the blankets near the porch swing? I can't find-"

I immediately grew silent when I heard the door slam and heard a soft click as if it were locked. I looked over at the door for a few seconds, as if I was processing what I just heard. Then when I finally realized what might be happening my stomach dropped. I made my way back over to the door but as I tried to open it the doorknob wouldn't budge. I was locked out.

Ok, try not to panic. Maybe mom forgot that I was outside and closed the door.

When I saw mom walk past the door I jiggled the door handle to get her attention.

"Mom, you accidentally locked me out." I said, keeping my voice calm, even though I could feel myself growing nervous for the reply she was going to give me.

Mom cocked her head to the side innocently, as if she didn't know what I was talking about.

"No, I didn't. I did it intentionally."

"But why would you-"

"You know, I got a strange phone call today from your math teacher Mrs. Amari." She cut me off, swishing the champagne in her glass. The calm facade I had on instantly fell and turned fearful as she continued. "She said that you failed your math test today and showed up late to school. I told her she must've had the wrong kid because my perfect son would never embarrass me like that." She looked back up to me with dead, glazed over eyes. "But she emailed me the attendance sheet stating your absence and I found this in your bag."

She held up my half-finished math test from today. Shit, she must've searched my bag when I was outside.

"M-Mom please, let me explain."

"And you just give me one of you bull shit excuses?" Mom hissed, scaring me by how fast her demeanor changed. "You embarrassed me Hikaru. Your teachers probably think I raised a fucking dumb and pathetic son." She took a long sip of her drink before continuing. "I saw this article on the internet where it said that the cold could make a person smarter. So, to make sure that you won't embarrass me again by your idiocy, you'll be staying out in the rain until I decide that you should be allowed back inside."

"But mom, it's practically pouring outside and I'm soaked. It's also supposed to be below 30 degrees tonight. I can't-"

"Then you'll become even smarter and won't have to embarrass me by failing any more tests."

"But mom-" She just ignored me as she took a sip of her champagne and walked to the living room, out of my view. "No, no, no, mom please let me in!" I pleaded as I jiggled the door handle harder, but my pleas only hit deaf ears.

I tried everything I could think of to try and open the door. I yanked on the handle, rammed my shoulder into it. I even tried to see if I could pick the lock, but it was all futile. I was tempted to grab a rock from the yard and throw it at the glass, but I knew if I broke the door it would only make mom furious.

I took a few steps back from the door, to see if I could find any other way in. Even after just being out here for around ten minutes I felt the temperature drop, and it didn't help that I was so soaked that my white uniform shirt was literally sticking to my body. I could see my breath turn into mist in the air and the rain began to feel like razors as the ice cold water landed on my skin. I needed to find a way in because I knew that it'll only grow colder as the day progressed.

Then suddenly an idea popped into my head as I remembered what happened Christmas Eve. The window to my room might be unlocked so if I could find a way on the roof I could get in that way. Without any hesitation, I rushed over to the fence and unlocked it before running out to the driveway. Since Isao's car wasn't here yet, I had to find something else to use as a step stool to get onto the roof. I noticed our empty trash black trash bin against the fence, maybe if I laid it on its side it would give me enough height to pull myself up onto the roof.

Without giving even giving it a second thought I ran over to the trash bin and rolled it over to the driveway before tipping it over on its side. I carefully got onto the bin, using the wall as support so I wouldn't fall, and when I was tall enough I grabbed onto the roof and went to lift myself up, but it was far more difficult than last time. The roof tiles were too slick from the rain to get a firm grip and when I tried to hoist myself up, my arms would just slide back to the point that I would almost slide off the roof. My chest would also brush up against the side of the roof, causing pain to shoot through my whole upper body, but I tried my best to ignore it as I continued to try and get into the roof.

"Come on, Come on," I strained in pain as I reached to grab another roof tile to help myself up, but as I grabbed it my hand immediately slipped, almost causing me to fall off the roof. "Shit!"

I couldn't do it, the roof was too slick to get a good enough hold and even if I was able to get up onto it, there was no way I could get to my window without slipping and most likely falling off the roof. I soon gave up and dropped back down on the pavement, sitting down on the black trash bin as I tried to regain my breath, but the cold was making it hard to breathe. My muscles ached and the wound on my chest was burning from it being pressed against the rood. I lightly brushed my fingers over the scars, wincing a bit as I felt them under my drenched uniform shirt. I looked down at the shirt to see if there was any blood and was relieved to see that my shirt was still white and only had a little bit of dirt from the roof around the chest area. So thankfully my wound hadn't reopened.

I moved my wet bangs out of my face, watching as the rain poured around me. I was left out here with no way in. I couldn't spend the night in my car because my keys were in my blazer pocket, along with my phone, and if I went to a neighbor's house they would just call my mom and my punishment would only be worse.

The sound of a door opening broke me out of my thought. I looked over my shoulder and saw my old neighbor Mrs. Amano walking out onto the front porch to grab some sheets she left out before they could get even wetter. I couldn't let her see me or she would definitely question why I'm outside in a storm. So, before she got the sheets down I made my way back to the backyard.

Hours slowly passed and I could tell that the sun was beginning to set by how dark the clouds were getting. The rain has lightened a bit, but not by much. Although, I couldn't say that about the temperature, which dropped about another ten degrees.

I sighed out tiredly as I leaned my head against the wall. I've barely moved from where I was sitting next to the door since I came back in the backyard. I gave up trying to get mom to let me in, knowing there was no use in begging. I could hear her inside as she walked through the kitchen and dining room, talking and humming happily to herself as if she has forgotten that I was even out here, but I knew she hasn't. She was just trying to torment me by making the house look so warm, which was working. She had lit a fire in the fireplace, which we rarely ever used. I could smell from the vents that she was cooking some type of soup, and even though I wasn't a fan of that type of meal, it smelled amazing and warm.

My only source of heat right now was the heat coming from the vents, but it wasn't much. I tried to do anything to distract myself from the cold and also try to kill some time so I decided to play a solo game of solitaire with waterproof cards that we had.

Just like the first aid kit, Kaoru and I prepared a small chest of random board games and other items so if mom did ever lock us out again we could pass the time. We also had put some jackets and blankets in there, but as I searched the chest underneath the deck they were missing. The lock was broken when I dragged it out, so either mom or Isao found it and took them so we couldn't keep ourselves warm out here like the fucking demons they are. However, I was just glad that they didn't take out any of the snacks and water in the chest, although the snacks were expired so I didn't risk my health more by eating them.

I placed the last king on top of the third pile, winning the game for the tenth time. I glared at the now four stacks of cards. This game was starting to get old. At least the last time I was stuck out here Kaoru was with me so I was able to play more of the games we had to pass the time until mom let us back in, but without him here I couldn't think of any other card game to play but solitary.

I huffed as I regrouped the cards and was about to shuffle them until I heard the beep of a car being locked. Could that be Isao? If it was I could make him think that I locked myself out and maybe he could let me in. I dropped the deck of cards in my hands and ran over to the glass door. I didn't see mom anywhere so it could be possible that she was either upstairs or room, which gave me more of a chance for him to let me inside.

The front door opened and instinctively a smile of relief spread across my face when I saw Isao enter the house and put his bag down before shrugging off his coat.

"Isao!" I called out to get his attention as I banged on the glass. "Isao!"

Isao looked over towards where my voice was coming from and looked surprised to see that I was outside during a terrible storm.

"Hikaru, what the hell are you doing out there?" Isao asked as he began making his way over to me.

"I accidentally locked myself out while getting something for mom." I lied, I didn't even know if I could lock myself out with this door. "I tried calling mom but she couldn't hear me and my phone is in my blazer pocket that's on the couch. Can you please help me?"

"Sure, anything to get you out of that terrible storm."

I could feel a huge wave of relief wash over me as I saw him grasp onto the door handle, but sadly it was short lived.

"Isao honey," Mom greeted happily as she walked into the kitchen. "You're home." She grabbed Isao's arms and turned him away from the door, shattering any hope of him letting me in. Isao just stood there puzzled as mom gave him a peck on the cheek and smiled brightly. "Don't worry about Hikaru, this is his punishment. He showed up late to school this morning and failed his test, embarrassing our reputation. So he has to remain out there in the storm until I decided that he learned his lesson."

"Uh...alright, if you say so…"

"I made you this lovely soup that one of my assistants gave me a recipe for." She said as she began to lead him away. "I'm sure you're going to love it."

"No, no, wait mom!" I pleaded out to her as she walked away. I began to pound on the glass again to try and get her back over. "I promise that I learned my lesson. Just let me back in...please."

I laid my forehead on the glass as I felt warm tears began to trail down my face. I was so close, so fucking close and of course when I was finally going to be saved from this torturous punishment she just happened to pop up. Soon I heard footsteps heading back over towards the door. I looked up to see mom's deadpan expression.

"Mom please I-"

But instead of listening to me she just pulled down the blinds, leaving the only source of light that I had was a single porch light. I laid my head back on the glass as I listened to the rain began to grow heavy again. I began to feel all the pent up emotions that I've been holding back began to rise up as if I were a volcano about to erupt. I clenched my teeth as I tried to hold back all of it, but it was too much to hold onto and in a matter of seconds I exploded.

"Fuck!" I screamed as I hit the glass door with my palm. "Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!" I took a few steps back, away from the door as I gave it a dark, murderous glare. "I fucking hate you, you fucking bitch! You're just a piece of shit mother who chose alcohol over her own fucking kids and abuses them! All because your fucking husband left and you're taking out your anger on us! I'm fucking sick of it!"

Sadly, my screams were silenced by the storm around me, not letting anyone hear me, and I was barely able to even hear myself. All my pent up emotions were flowing out of me, as if a dam had finally broke, causing myself to breakdown even harder by all the fucking shit that was going on in my life.

"Not only that my mom fucking abuses me, the only person I considered a friend still wants nothing to do with me because I fucking slept with her! I'm sorry, I didn't mean to fuck you, but maybe if you let me take the drinks back like I offered to do, none of this would have fucking happened!" A random surge of adrenaline ran through and the next thing I knew I began trashing the porch. I threw lawn chairs, flipping over tables and began hitting the porch railing with a stick from a broken rake. "You promised that you'd be there for me whenever I needed you! You promised to comfort me when my mom abused me! You tricked me into being your fucking friend then dropped me as if I meant nothing to you, just like my fucking dad!" I began hitting the railing harder. "You told me that you loved us and you'd be home later that day but you never showed up! You're the reason why mom's an abusive alcoholic. You're the reason why Kaoru and my lives are fucked up! I hate you! I hate all three of you!"

The stick finally couldn't take anymore and broke in half, causing me to stop. I began to catch my breath as I finally felt all the adrenaline leave my body as I stared down at the broken stick in my hands. Tears began to fall down my face again as I hugged the stick to my chest and collapsed onto the floor into a fetal position as I finally broke down. I may have said I hated them...but I mostly hated myself that I didn't. With every ounce I had in me I tried to forget about dad, escape mom's abuse, and get over Haruhi, but I just couldn't. I just cared too deeply for them to ever hate them, which made me hate my life even more.

"Please God, just kill me." I quietly sobbed. "I beg of you, please just end my suffering."

* * *

 **Haruhi**

Haruhi let out a tired sigh as she closed her notebook. She had finally finished her last assignment and now could rest for a while before she had to go to bed, but she knew that it was going to be hard for her to officially relax while she had so much on her mind. For the past few weeks, she couldn't stop thinking about Hikaru and worrying about him. It was understandable how she acted when they woke up together in the motel room after a night of drunken...mmhm...but she now really wished that she didn't end their friendship. She could tell that, just like her, Hikaru was miserable without their friendship, but it was more noticeable that it was affecting him a lot worse. He put all his trust into her and now probably feels like he can't trust anyone anymore in fear that they'll do the same. He already had a bad enough life with his mother abusing him, now she probably only made it worse.

She let out another sigh before getting up and heading to her room. She thought she could kill some time reading a few pages of her new book she got before starting dinner, but she as she went to the small bookshelf in the corner of her room another book caught her attention. She plucked the book from the shelf and ran her hand through the soft leather cover.

 _'It's the journal that I used to keep tabs on Hikaru's and my relationship.'_

She unhooked the latch as she made her way over to her bed before sitting down to begin reading.

 _Day 1: I decided to dedicate this journal on my relationship progress with Kaoru's twin brother Hikaru, to try and get to know him. Today he broke down and told me about how his mother abuses him and Kaoru. I tried to bring him to the Host Club but that didn't work out so well. I should've known it would've ended badly by how Hikaru and Tamaki always talked bad about each other. Although, I was able to convince him to have dinner at my house (after not allowing him to leave before the food was done cooking) and promised me to talk to me whenever his mom abused him. Hopefully, I'll break down that mean, bad boy exterior and see who Kaoru and Kyoya say he really is._

 _*flip*_

 _Day 17: I think I somewhat made a breakthrough. He was a dick, as usual, today, but today was the first day that he didn't tell me a single time to leave him alone today, so I think I'm making progress. Fingers crossed this is just the beginning._

 _*flip*_

 _Day 24: I made a fucking breakthrough! He smiled! He actually smiled and laughed! All because of a stupid joke that my dad told me last night. Who knew a tough guy like him would crack because of a dad joke. I wonder how long it'll take him to admit that we're friends because at this rate I think it's going to be soon._

 _*flip*_

 _Day 39:...I can't even believe it. I thought it would've taken longer but it happened today...he actually called me his friend. Even though it happened during lunch (which he bought for me) I'm still shocked by it. I'm really starting to like this new Hikaru that's coming out. Hopefully, he'll stay._

 _*flip*_

 _Day 39 con: I don't know what happened, but after our tutoring session today when Tamaki senpai came to pick me up for our date Hikaru got angry and stormed off...Could he be jealous that he's not my only friend? God, I really hope I can fix this as soon as possible._

 _*flip*_

 _Day 42: We made up, thank God. So I was right about him being jealous of him not being my only friend. He also made it up to me for acting shitty by helping me with my dancing. Making great progress._

 _*flip*_

 _Day 53:...I can't do this anymore...I just can't. I'm sorry…_

Tears began to fall on the already tearstained page as Haruhi finished reading the last entry. A tsunami of guilt consuming her as she re-read it, only making more tears fall. What was she doing to herself? She was only making herself feel far worse than she already did...but she missed him terribly. Shit, she even missed him insulting her for just breathing, but if she called him would he even pick up? He seemed like he missed her too, or was he just acting depressed because the abuse at home was so bad?

She felt her phone in her pocket of her sweater and bit her lip as she continued arguing with herself if she should call him or not. Then as she was about to finally decide what to do, a bright flash of lightning appeared, instantly lighting up the room, accompanied by a loud roar of thunder. Haruhi shrieked and began frantically searching her room.

 _'Earplugs! Where are the earplugs that Tamaki gave me at the beach?!'_

After a few terrifyingly slow seconds passed of searching she finally found the earplugs in a drawer, but just as she was about to grab them she noticed the earphones that Hikaru had given her a couple of months ago. She took them into her hand and stared at them as tears began welling up in her eyes again as she remembered the day he gave them to her.

 _'Just plug these into your phone or laptop if you got one and when a storm hits the music will distract you.'_

As another roar of thunder hit. Haruhi immediately grabbed a blanket and wrapped it protectively around herself before taking out her phone and plugged them the earphones in before shoving them in her ears, playing the first playlist that was on her phone, and as the first song began to play her heart began to hurt.

It was a playlist Hikaru gave her to help draw out the thunder. She didn't really know any of the names of the songs, but to her surprise they actually calmed her down during every storm since he gave them to her, even helping her fall asleep.

 _'Fuck it. I'm calling him.'_

Pausing the playlist she dialed up Hikaru's number (who was still under her favorites) and listened to the ringing on the other side.

"Come on, come on, please pick up." She pleaded, but her pleas grew silent by the sound of the voice message, causing the tears welling up in her eyes to finally fall.

"What did I do..?"

* * *

 **Hikaru**

I didn't know when it officially stopped raining. All I knew was that I had fallen asleep after my break down and when I woke up the rain had stopped. I must've not slept for that long though since my clothes and hair were still damp and I could still hear mom and Isao were still up in the living room, so the most I slept must've been an hour.

Once I was finally up I decided to clean up the mess that I made in the backyard earlier. If mom saw that I trashed the yard she'll probably keep me out here a lot longer for ruining her _"precious"_ yard, but at least cleaning somewhat distracted me from the sharp, burning pain of the cold, which has dropped even lower.

I huffed out an annoyed sigh as I was sitting back in the same spot next to the door, as I bounced a small red ball on the railing of the porch back and forth.

"Oh Isao, you could do nothing wrong." I imitated mom in a quiet, high voice as I bounced the ball. "You could literally murder my children and I'll still love you, but if my sons so as much as breathe the wrong way, I'll beat the shit out of them and lock them out in the freezing cold, but I promise that I'm a fucking great mother." I growled as I threw the ball at the rail harder. "Fucking bitch!"

I squeezed the red ball tightly in my hand and was about to chuck it at the rail with full force, but before I could there was a loud slam on the door, making me jump, accompanied with mom screaming.

"Whatever the fuck you're doing out there quit it! Do you hear me?!"

"Yes mom." I sighed out as I began picking at the rubber ball glumly, but the sound of mom hitting the door a second time cause me to jump again.

"I can't hear you!"

"Yes mom." I repeated louder, a little nervous that it was that it still wasn't loud enough for her liking, but I calmed down when I heard her footsteps walk away from the door.

I let out another sigh, watching my breath turn into mist in the air. Watching the mist made me really crave a cigarette, all the stress that happened in the past few hours was too much for me to handle, but my cigarettes were in my bag so there was no way of getting them until mom let me back in, which was hopefully soon. By how dark the sky was and what I could see through the blinds of my neighbors' bedroom window at what they were watching, it was most likely around eight or nine. I've been out here for around six hours.

I leaned my head back against the wall, staring up at the semi-clear night sky. I desperately wanted to go inside. I was cold, hungry, thirsty, and I really needed to use the bathroom. Yeah, I could've gone in the bushes, but I'd rather that be a last resort because I had a little pride.

I covered my mouth with my arm as I coughed. Great, now I'm probably going to be sick tomorrow from being out in the rain and cold for so long. Just what I needed in my already shitty life. I coughed again before standing up and making my way back over to the chest to find something quieter to do. I rummaged through the random shit that was in there, picking up a book that looked interesting. Kaoru was the one who put old books he already read in here so we had something to do if we got bored of playing games. The book was worn out from being in the chest for so long and probably from getting wet from the rain today, but I could still read the words on the pages.

As I was flipping through the pages, I heard the sound of the door unlocking and opening. I immediately dropped the book back in the chest and stood up, expecting to see that mom was finally allowing me back inside, but as I looked up at the door, whoever opened it had already closed and locked it again, but they seemed to have left a small bowl of food and a bottle of water out for me. It didn't look warm, but at least I could finally get something to eat today. I closed the chest and made my way back up, to the porch to see that either mom or Isao left me a small bowl of rice from what I assumed was leftovers from our dinner a few nights ago. I know that I shouldn't have expected anything arm, but I was still disappointed.

I sat down and took the bowl in my one of my hands as I pick the fork in the other and began poking at the old clumps of rice. The rice was hard and bland, but at least I would have something in my stomach, which made my body start to feel more energy by finally having some food, but not by much. The bowl wasn't even the size of my two hands cupped together, so even though I took my time eating so I could savor the food as long as I could, I was done in about ten minutes.

I didn't know how many hours passed by after I finished eating, but I knew that it was close to midnight. Mom and Isao were still up and by how much mom was laughing I could tell that they were drinking. Well, at least they were fucking happy while I was out here freezing to death outside, fucking assholes.

I turned the pages to the book I was reading and began reading the next page. I've already read half the book at this point, which was surprising for me. It usually took me months to get me this far because I would only read a few pages of a book then forget about it for a few weeks. While Kaoru could probably finish this sized book in a day.

Although, now it was getting harder and harder to read as I began to feel myself doze off, but I would jolt back up before I could finally fall asleep. I bookmarked the page before tossing the book to the side, rubbing the bags under my eyes.

"Shit…" I sighed out heavily, looking towards the door. "When are they finally going to let me back in?"

I lost track of how many hours I've been out here anymore. All I knew was that I've been out here since the sun has been up and now it was almost pitch black, minus the small porch light next to the door. I coughed a couple of times in my arm and sniffed. Fuck, I was differently sick now. My nose was almost stuffed to the point that I couldn't breathe out of it. I didn't know if it was because I was getting sick, but I suddenly began to feel warm, but not the good, cozy warm you'd feel next to a fire, but the kind you feel sweaty and gross.

My ears perked up when I heard footsteps making their way to the door. I turned my head when I heard the door unlock and opened, seeing mother's impassive expression. A bit of me began to feel hopeful that she was finally going to let me back in...but yet I knew mom when she was drunk. She was unpredictable, and the way she was looking at me with no expression at all made it impossible to know what she might be thinking.

"Mom, I'm really-"

"Hush!" She hissed, which I instantly obeyed too. She readjusted the large designer coat she had on as if she was taunting me, and opening the door slightly wider with her heel so I could just barely feel the warm air coming from inside, and it made my body began to shiver almost violently again. She crossed her arms over her chest as she leaned her back against the glass door. "You've been out here for a while, let's see if you've gotten any smarter. I'm going to ask you a series of questions and if you get them all right then you'll be allowed back inside."

"Wait, what type of-"

"What is the velocity of a moving car going twenty miles per hour with the respect to the surface of a highway, traveling northward?"

I just blinked, confused at the question she just gave me. "Huh-"

"What is the square root of 1,493?"

"Wait, hold on-"

"What was the first book Ernest Hemingway wrote?"

"Mom-"

"Who was the first Windsor Monarch of the UK?"

"Slow down-"

Her expression turned angry as I didn't answer her questions immediately and began walking over to me. "Answer the damn questions Hikaru."

I looked up at her with fearful eyes. "Mom I-"

"Answer the fucking question!" She repeated in a bark as she roughly grabbed my face, causing me to flinch as I tried to turn my face away from her. "Answer them!"

"I don't know!" I finally answered, a few tears trailing down my face. "I don't know…"

"Hmm." I looked back up at her and saw that her expression was no longer angry, but back to impassive. Which only made me more terrified. "I guess being out here for eight hours wasn't enough. You'll just have to stay out here longer then."

My eyes went wide as she let go of my face and began making her way back to the door.

"Wait mom," I got up and ran to follow her. Grabbing a hold of the door handle just in time before it closed, "please let me back in. I'm sorry I failed the test. I promise it'll never happen again."

She stopped fighting to close to the door and just stared back at me, before giving me that terrifyingly sweet smile that always made my gut churn.

"Oh honey," she then kneed me hard in the gut, causing me to let out a pain filled gasp. My stomach was still tender from what happened a few nights ago, so it made my stomach hurt far worse. I collapsed onto my knees as I held my stomach, pain surging through my entire body as mom continued to speak, "you should already know that I can see through your bull shit."

She then kicked me in the face, making me fall to the ground before slamming the door and locking it. I stayed in that position for a few minutes before slowly getting up so I was holding my torso up with my arm. I felt something slowly trailing down the side of my lip and used a shaky hand to wipe it, seeing that it was blood. Great, another wound that I have to deal with. At least my lip was only cut and nothing worse happened, but I knew that if it bruised people might get a little suspicious tomorrow, which was the last thing I needed.

The porch light suddenly turned off, shrouding me in darkness. I could feel myself want to break down again, but my body wouldn't allow it. So I just sat there, staring at the floor as the cold air blew past me, though my body didn't react to it. It was the least painful thing I was feeling right now.

I let out an exhausted sigh, I was extremely tired and wanted to just wanted to sleep to get this whole fucking night over with, but I knew that the cold weather was going to make it difficult, unless…

I finally noticed something folded up underneath the porch swing and a light bulb lit up in my head. The covers for the barbecue! I can't believe I haven't noticed them before. I could use it as a substitute for a blanket. Not wasting any more time, I used the railing to help myself up, wincing from the pain that was still coming from my stomach. I took a couple of seconds to catch my breath before staggering my way over. I grabbed the covers underneath the porch swing and felt the material. It felt scratchy and light, but it would be better in keeping me warm than nothing at all.

I wrapped the covers around me and sat down on the swing, using the heel of my right foot to make it move a little, which was actually quite comforting. I could see why babies thought this was relaxing because in a matter of minutes I began to grow tired again. I laid down on the swing, having the covers wrapped around me like a cocoon so I could keep myself as warm as I could, and not be bothered by the damp cushions.

I stared off at the lights coming off from the windows of the other houses and seeing smoke coming from the chimneys, making me wrap the covers around me tighter. I was lucky enough that I was exhausted from everything that happened today, so I could sleep through the rest of this hellish fucking night.

* * *

I woke up to the sound of the door opening and immediately felt horrible. Besides my body aching, I felt weak and sick and my head felt so congested that it was hard to breathe.

I slowly opened my eyes when I heard footsteps coming towards me and saw mom glaring down at me. Please God, don't make her ask any more questions. I could barely think straight as it is from how sick I felt.

"Mom-"

"Get up!" She hissed, before grabbing the cover before harshly tugging it, making me fall hard on the wood porch, knocking the wind out of me. Then before I could even catch my breath she grabbed the collar of my shirt and forced me up and led me back towards the house before pushing me inside the house. "Get ready for school. I want you out in less than thirty minutes, alright?"

I nodded, too sick to even say anything as she walked away. I got up and walked over to the couch where my blazer was and grabbed it. I reached into my pockets to get my phone and keys, but as I was searching I couldn't find my phone. I grew confused, I knew that I put my phone in my blazer, but where the fuck was it?

"Mom?" I called out to her. "Do you know where my phone is?"

"Oh, that thing." Mom replied back innocently from the kitchen. "It kept being a nuisance by vibrating so I took care of it."

I felt my stomach drop in an uneasy way at what she said. "What do you mean 'took care of it?'"

There were a few moments of silence before I heard a cabinet door loudly shut before footsteps began marching over to the living room with my now broken phone in her hand. I looked at my phone in complete horror and took it from her, desperately trying to turn it on.

"What did you do to it?"

"I told you that it was being a nuisance so when it wouldn't stop vibrating I threw it on the floor before throwing it in the bathroom sink full of water for about an hour."

"Why didn't you just turn it off..?" I asked, my voice barely a whisper as I sat down on the headrest of the couch.

Mom rolled her eyes as she swished the red wine in the wine glass in her hand. "I don't see why you're so upset. It's just a phone. You could always by another one."

"I don't have any money…"

She shrugged her shoulders. "Not my problem." She took a sip of her wine before softly grabbing my face, making me look up at her. Her impassive expression was haunting to look at. "Maybe this will finally get you to start behaving, and who knows," she rubbed the new bruise on the left side of my lip with her thumb gingerly, "maybe I'll give you a new phone as a reward for being good."

She patted my cheek before walking back towards the kitchen. "You have twenty minutes."

I just watched her leave before staring back at my broken phone, running my thumb along the cracked glass of the screen. I would usually be furious about this, but right now I felt too sick to feel anything. I just wanted to leave this fucking house and get away from mom as long as I could today, no matter how awful I felt.

I tossed my phone to the floor before rubbing my temples to calm the huge migraine that had formed.

"Shit."

* * *

 **Hey guys, I'm really sorry for the two-month wait. Do I have excuses, yes, yes I do...ish. Mostly school has been taking up most of my time and looking for a job. But I hope this really, really long chapter makes up for the long wait. (It better because it was torturous to type!)** **I will try to update quicker since I'm back in the mojo of school...kinda**

 **Also, thank you so much for all the recent reviews, favorites, and follows from the last few updates. To be honest I was a little upset that his story didn't get that much recognition at first because I really love writing this story. Then suddenly, but slowly, a lot more people start reading it and loving it (even some of my favorite authors' XD) and it makes me even more motivated to write stories. So thank you all, I love you. :)**

 **Please Favorite, Follow, and Review. Until next time.-HH1957**


	18. Chapter 17

I coughed in my scarf as I walked down the hallway, hugging my arms around myself as I was still shivering from being out in the cold all night. Even with my uniform blazer, leather jacket, and winter coat, I was still freezing to the point that my teeth were chattering, but yet my body was beginning to sweat. I knew that it was from the excessive amount of clothing I was wearing, but I didn't dare to take any of the layers off. I could feel the stares of the other students on me, probably wondering why I'm dressed for the Arctic, rather than a normal sixty degrees winter day.

As I stared down the hall, my vision began to make the long hallway look like it was spinning and I began to feel disorientated. I had no idea where I was, I don't even know if I passed my homeroom yet or not. All I knew was that I was on the second floor of the school. As my vertigo grew worse, I felt my stride began to be effective, instead of walking straight forward I began stumbling to the side at times as if I was on a rocking boat. I didn't want anyone to think I was under the influence of anything, so I grabbed the wall and sat down on the windowsill until my dizziness went away.

I began breathing heavier as if that was supposed to help with anything and closed my eyes when I felt my stomach churn in an uneasy way. Close to the time when I had a hangover.

"Hikaru?"

I opened my eyes to see a female student from my class looking at me concerned. She had brown round eyes with long straight brown hair that had two small buns on either side of her head. I think her name was Momoka Kurakano or whatever. All I knew was that she was the vice president of our class and Kazukiyo had a massive crush on her.

"Are you alright?"

I nodded before swallowing. "Yeah...I'm fine, just a little sick."

 _'Please go away, please go away. If I keep talking I'm going to get sick.'_

"You look really bad. Do you need help getting to the nurse?"

"No, I'm fine."

 _'Please leave.'_

"Are you sure? You look like you're going to pass out any second."

"I'm fine, really."

 _'Just fucking leave!'_

"Alright, if you're-"

I couldn't sit there any longer. I felt like I was going to be sick any second. I shot up and ran off, just leaving a confused Momoka behind.

* * *

I coughed once my stomach finally emptied itself and I flushed the toilet as I wiped my face. I fell back so I was sitting against the stall wall, holding my stomach in pain. I groaned as I leaned my head against the door, grimacing as the pain in the stomach grew. I wanted to go home, but if I went home that means I would have to deal with mom again, who probably be angry that I came back home early and probably accuse me of lying about my sickness so I could get out of school.

The door to the bathroom opened and footsteps began making their way in until they reached the stall I was in and knocked on the door.

"It's occupied," I grumbled, tightening my arms around my stomach as another wave of pain hit me.

"Hikaru it's me."

I slowly lifted my head and looked towards the door. "Kyoya?"

"Yes, can you please open the door?"

I let out a sigh before lifting my scarf back over my mouth so he wouldn't be able to see my bruises and unlocked the stall door. Kyoya opened the door and once he saw me his expression turned grim, which I only rolled my eyes to.

"Don't pity me." I murmured as I laid my head back against the stall. "I'm not in the mood."

"I'm not here to pity you." Kyoya said. I rolled my eyes over to him as he continued. "I saw you run into the bathroom covering your mouth as if you were going to be sick so I wanted to check up on you."

"I'm fine." I falsely stated, which I could tell Kyoya didn't believe, "I just ate something bad this morning and-"

"That excuse is overused by you and Kaoru by now. You've been using that line since middle school." I looked away from him, which indicated to him that he was right that I was lying. "Does this have something to do with your mother?" I just remained silent. "I have a feeling you're not going to the nurse because she would send you home."

"I'm fine, really." I slowly got up, using the wall for support to try not to sway as I attempted to pass by him. "I have to get to class.

"Hold on." Kyoya said as he grabbed my arm, but I yanked it out of his grip as I continued to make my way towards the door. "Hikaru wait."

He grabbed my arm again, but this time in a tighter grip ao I couldn't yank my arm free. "Let go of me."

"Hikaru you're sick."

"Kyoya…please" I tried pleading, but he just ignored me.

"You need to-"

"I said let go of me!"

I began roughly yanking my arm to try to get him to let me go and when that didn't work I began hitting his arm to get him to release his grip.

"Hikaru stop. You're too sick to put your body through this."

I didn't give a shit what he said at this point as I continued to try and get free. I could feel my heart pounding loudly in my chest that it began to hurt. It was beginning to grow hard to breath, feeling as if I was being smothered as my breathing turned into pants. My body suddenly grew hot as if the temperature in the room skyrocketed one hundred degrees.

"Let me go!" I repeated almost the point I was thrashing around like a wild animal.

"Hikaru, if I let you go you'll hurt yourself. You need to calm down."

His voice was soothing and calm which was rare for him, but it only made me angrier. I tried to use my foot to kick him but since my movements were slow by being sick he was able to catch my leg with his arm which only caused me to panic more. He used this opportunity to get me onto the floor and sat down with me, locking me in a tight hold from behind. Flashbacks of what happened a couple of nights ago with Isao putting me in a choke hold as mom burned me invaded my brain.

"Please let me go." I pleaded, trying to unwrap his arms from around me.

"Calm down first then I will." He tightened his grip around me, causing me to claw at his hands. "I'm not going to hurt you." He said as he tried to calm me down. "You know all I want to do is help. Just calm down."

"I...I can't." I said in between pants. "Please...just let me go…"

"Just breathe." He said. "Everything is going to be ok."

I finally listened to him and began to control my breathing. I took in a few deep breaths and in a few minutes, my breathing was finally getting back to normal.

"Can you let me go now?" I asked in a shaky voice, still trying to not pay attention to his arms around me so I wouldn't have another panic attack.

Kyoya finally listened to my request and finally released me. I took in a deep breath, finally being able to breathe normally again and scooted away from Kyoya as I continued to try and calm myself down and get my body to stop trembling.

"I'm sorry." Kyoya apologized. "I know that you don't like when people touch you, but if I released you could've hurt yourself by how much force you were using in your sicken state. Do you understand?"

"Yeah…" I quietly answered, my voice slightly cracking at the end.

I couldn't hold back the tears welling up in my eyes and felt them began to trail down my face. I knew Kyoya was only trying to help me, but my body reacted to it as a threat, especially after what happened in the past few days with all the abuse. It was like my body didn't even know who was safe anymore...and my brain didn't either.

I heard Kyoya footsteps walk up beside me and squatted to my level. I turned my head away from him so he wouldn't see my tears but I could tell he already knew that I was crying.

"Come on. I'm taking you to the club room."

"I can't," I said as I wiped away some tears, "I have to get to class or they'll call my mom."

"You're sick Hikaru, you need to rest."

"But-"

"I will tell Mr. Suoh that you're sick and couldn't attend class today, and don't worry about him not believing you're sick. Since your drastic change in personality within the past few months he trusts you more now."

"But why do you want me to go to the fucking Host Club out of all places? Aren't you going to have guests, or a meeting, or whatever?"

"The club is closed today because Tamaki has some family business to take care of, and we're going to the club room so you can rest because I have an inkling that you're not going to the nurse's office." He pushed up his glasses, making the light glare off his lenses. "Am I correct?"

I slowly nodded to his question. I knew that if I went to the nurse she would automatically send me home by how sick I was, and by how mom literally threw me out to go to the school, she wouldn't be happy to see me home only after an hour after I left. I didn't even want to imagine the beating I would get if I came earlier then she wanted me to.

I looked up to see Kyoya offering his hand to me. "Come on, let's go to the clubroom."

* * *

"Thanks." I said as Kyoya handed me a cup of tea.

"No problem." He took a seat in the loveseat across from me, crossing his arms over his chest as he leaned back in the seat. "Now, would you like to tell me what happened yesterday that made you so sick?"

I stared at my reflection in the clear, brown liquid, seeing the depressed person I've grown accustomed to seeing these past few weeks.

"My mom…" I started, swallowing the painful lump in my throat as the memories began to resurface, "she found out I failed my math test yesterday and punished me by locking me out all night in the storm. She said that the cold would make me smarter and when she tried to quiz me to let me back inside I failed, which only made her angier."

"Does that have to do with why you're wearing a scarf over your mouth and nose?" I just shrugged my shoulder, refusing to look at him as I fiddled with my scarf with my gloved hand. I heard him get up and walk over to me and only looked up when I felt his presence in front of him and saw his hand reaching over to grab my scarf. Before he could touch it I grabbed his arm, making him halt. "I'm not going to touch you, Hikaru. I just want to see what she did to you."

I continued to hold back his hand as I stared back at him, meeting his concerned gaze. I knew that he wasn't going to hurt me, he's one of the only people who hasn't hurt me in my life but my body still thought of him as a threat. But right now the main reason why I held him back was that I didn't want him to see the damage mom has done. It was the worse she has done in a long time and I knew that Kyoya would be livid, but I also knew that he would find a way to persuade me into telling him.

I let out a deep sigh as I gave up the fight and looked away from him again as I let go of his hand. He used his hand to pull down my scarf to my chin, exposing my bruised nose and lip.

"Hikaru…" Kyoya's voice was brittle, a tone that I rarely ever heard him use. He brought his finger to my chin but hesitated to touch me. "Can I?"

I gave a small nod and Kyoya hooked his finger under my chin to lift my head so I was looking up at him and began examining the bruises.

"Why didn't you call me?"

"I left my phone inside when mom locked me out." I said as Kyoya retracted his hand. "I guess Kaoru was trying to call me and it annoyed my mom so much that she broke it. I couldn't even turn it on because the battery was fried from being left in water for so long. Even though my phone is supposed to be fucking waterproof." I mumbled the last part.

"And you can't buy a new one because your mom still has you cut off from receiving any money." Kyoya stated, which I nodded to. We sat there silently for a few seconds, I could feel Kyoya's stare as I just played with my gloves. I moved my eyes to look up at him to see he was checking his watch. "I need to head to class." He walked over towards the supply closet across the room and grabbed a blanket and pillow before heading back to me. "You get some rest and I'll check up in you during lunch with some food."

He handed me the pillow and blanket, which I took from him a few moments later. "Kyoya you don't need to do this."

"I made a promise to you and Kaoru that I would be there whenever you need me. You don't want to go home and since the club is closed today I'll be taking care of you." He gave me a small smile. "Like what family should do."

I clenched down my teeth hard to fight off tears before looking down, so he wouldn't see my eyes growing wet. "Thanks Kyoya."

"There's no need to thank me. Just get some rest alright."

I nodded and placed the pillow down on the couch as I watched Kyoya leave the club room. I was still freezing so I decided to keep on all my layers of jackets as I wrapped the blanket around me. The couch was quite comfortable, which shouldn't be a surprise at a fucking high-end school like Ouran, though I had forgotten how they felt in the last two years. Kyoya always did want the best for the Host Club so he would sometimes go out of the schools budget to get certain items...or was that Tamaki..?

I let out a tired sigh, I was too sick to remember anything right now and laid down on the couch. As soon as my head hit the pillow I began drifting off and in only a matter of minutes, I was welcomed with the pleasure of sleep.

* * *

 **Kyoya**

Kyoya trailed down the hall towards Hikaru's classroom. He already told Mr. Suoh about Hikaru being sick and he informed his teachers, but before he could go to his own class he needed to do one last thing.

"Haruhi!"

Haruhi jumped a bit at the sound of her name and turned around to see Kyoya walking towards her. She gulped but tried to make herself not look nervous in front of Kyoya.

She glared at him. "What do you want Kyoya?"

He challenged her glare with his own. "Look, I don't know the reason why you're upset with everyone and I've been giving you space for the past few months, but I need an important favor from you."

She huffed and turned to leave. "Kyoya, I'm really not in the mood for-"

"It's about Hikaru."

She remained where she was for a couple of seconds before turning back to him, her facade gone and concern evident on her face. "What about him?"

"His mother, she…" Kyoya glare fell as well and he crossed his arms over his chest as he let out a soft sigh.

"What did she do?" Haruhi asked in a weak voice, most likely scared to hear the answer.

Kyoya looked around the halls, seeing all the students chatting around them. "I can't say anything out here, but," he faced back towards her, "meet me in the club room at lunch. He's in there sleeping."

"I don't know…"

"Haruhi, I don't know what's been going on with you lately and I'm not going to intrude but even though you and Hikaru are not talking right now, you're the only other person that he trusts." Kyoya noticed that Haruhi still seemed unsure. She looked like she wanted to help, but something was holding her back, which Kyoya may have an idea what it was. "Don't worry, the other club members won't be there. Just the three of us."

Haruhi bit her lip, fiddling with the sleeve with her brown sweater. Kyoya didn't know what was wrong with her, and after trying a few times to get an answer why she was avoiding Hikaru and the host club (especially her boyfriend Tamaki) he just let her be. He first thought that maybe she and Tamaki broke up, but Tamaki completely denied that and if they did break up why would that make her start to avoid Hikaru. He then thought if Tamaki and Haruhi didn't break up, then Hikaru and her must've had a falling out, but again, if that was the case why would she be avoiding the Host Club?

Haruhi let out a defeated sigh. "Fine, I'll go."

"Thank you." Kyoya thanked, which Haruhi just nodded to. "Meet me in the club room during lunch."

* * *

Kyoya placed a bowl of soup on the coffee table in front of where Hikaru was sleeping. He first planned to wake him up so Hikaru could get some food in his stomach, but after seeing him sleeping peacefully, he decided against it. He needed as much rest as he could get right now.

Kyoya checked his watch, it was ten past noon. Haruhi was ten minutes late. She promised that she would come straight from class, but it didn't take ten minutes to get from the second-floor classrooms to get here. Kyoya even skipped getting his own lunch so he could check up on Hikaru, so she had no excuse.

"I swear, if she's not here in the next three minutes I'm going to give her a new debt to pay." Kyoya grumbled as he looked up from his watch, glaring at the door.

He didn't have time to wait for her, he could just call Mori to help him if need be...but even though Hikaru liked Mori as a person, he still didn't trust him so having Mori help treat him might cause Hikaru to have another panic attack, which definitely wouldn't help his health.

The sound of one of the club room doors opening broke Kyoya out of his thought and he turned to see Haruhi entering the club room with what seemed to be a first aid kit.

"Sorry, I'm late." Haruhi apologized as she made her way towards Kyoya. "I had to find Mori senpai so I could borrow his first aid kit." She hugged the kit to her chest and let her neutral expression fall to finally show her worried expression. "How...How is he?"

"Go see for yourself," Kyoya said as he motioned his head towards the couch, "he's sleeping on the couch."

Haruhi's gaze landed immediately on Hikaru sleeping peacefully on the couch and Kyoya instantly noticed the tears welling up in her eyes the second she saw him. He didn't know if it was from his injuries, or she was beginning to feel guilty for ignoring him for the past couple months, or maybe it was both, but even though she was trying to hide it before he could tell she still deeply cared about him.

Kyoya gingerly placed a hand on her back, silently telling her to go up to him. She was hesitant at first, but then listened to him and began making her way over to Hikaru, with Kyoya following closely behind her.

Haruhi's eyes scanned the bruises on Hikaru's face, letting out a small gasp when she saw the new bruise on the left side of his mouth.

"What…" She swallowed the lump in his throat. "What happened to him?"

"His mother locked him outside during the storm last night." Kyoya replied. "He didn't tell me how he got the bruises, but I have an inkling that she hurt him when he tried to get back in. All I know from what he told me was his mother broke his phone because she got annoyed that Kaoru kept calling him when he was locked out."

"Th...That's the reason why she broke his phone because it kept ringing..?"

Kyoya nodded. "Yes, and since his mother cut him off from their money he won't be able to get a new one."

"When did she cut him off?"

Kyoya shrugged. "I don't know. He wouldn't tell me. All he said was that his mom got angry a couple of months ago saying that he was spending his money on useless shit, and until he can prove that he was responsible enough to show he can be trusted with money, he will have to fend for himself.

"I had...I had no idea…"

Kyoya could faintly hear her voice cracking, as if she could start crying at any second, but he knew that Haruhi didn't really like being vulnerable with people, so if she was going to cry she would when he left, which was understandable. Almost her whole life she had to keep her emotions in so she wouldn't worry her father, who already had enough his plate trying to earn enough money for both of them so she didn't want him to worry whenever she was sad...but maybe that's what she needed right now.

Kyoya cleared his throat, breaking the silence. "I'm going to write a list of what I'm going to get him after school. Do you mind looking after him?"

Haruhi shook her head, not looking away from Hikaru as Kyoya walked to the table he had his bag on. He pulled out his notebook and opened it to the page that he had already written all the supplies he needed. He just wanted an excuse to get away from Haruhi so she could let some of her emotions out.

After a few minutes of pretending to write, he glanced up to see Haruhi gently running her fingers through Hikaru's bangs, most likely to get them out of his face, but it also seemed as if she was trying to soothe him while he slept.

Again, Kyoya had no idea why she has been avoiding them for so long, but he was just grateful that she was now here.

* * *

 **Hikaru**

The first sound that I heard as I slowly began to wake up was what sounded like muffled laughter. I scrunched up my face in slight confusion but also irritated because of the irksome noise. I pushed my face deeper into the pillow, pulling the covers up to my nose as if that would block out the sound, but it was futile.

Soon the sound grew cleaner and I began to distinguish the sound of girls giggling, which only confused and irked me further. I slowly crept my eyes and when my vision finally began to unblur I saw a small group of female students surrounding the couch I was sleeping on. I looked from one girl to the other, trying to comprehend what was happening. They were smiling down at me as they giggled more and waved.

"Hi Hikaru." The girls giddily giggled.

I squinted my tired eyes in confusion, still trying to figure out what was going on, then when it suddenly hit me my eyes immediately grew wide and I shot up, only causing the girls to giggle more. I could feel myself began to panic by how close all these girls were to me, trapping me on the couch. Why were they here? Aren't they supposed to be in class? Was class over? If it was then where was Kyoya?

I wrapped the blanket tighter around me and leaned as far as I could in the couch so I could be as far away from them as possible as they surrounded me like hungry sharks.

The sound of the door opening ripped my attention away from the girls and I saw my savior from this fucking hell. Kyoya walked into the club room with a full white shopping bag. He immediately noticed the girls around me and saw the panic on my face.

He cleared his throat to get the girls attention. "Ladies, I'm sorry but the Host Club is closed today due to Tamaki being absent. He will return on Monday, but for now, I'll have to ask you to leave."

"Aww, but Kyoya…" One of the girls, who I now recognized as one of the girls in my class who had a massive crush on me, whined. "Hikaru is here and he hasn't-"

"I'm sorry Ms. Nakamura, but Hikaru is not feeling the greatest today and I would hate for any of you to get sick. I hope you all understand."

They all let out sad sighs and pouts before nodding and walking towards the door, but not before saying goodbye to me. Once the door closed Kyoya faced back towards me.  
"I'm sorry about that." He said as he made his way towards me. "I thought I left a sign on the door stating the club was closed today."

"What time is it?" I sniffed, eying the bag Kyoya placed on the foot of the couch.

"Around 3:30."

"Really? I slept the whole school day?"

"Yes, which I'm not surprised by. You were exhausted by everything that happened last night that I'm actually surprised that you didn't sleep longer." He pulled out what looked like a thermometer from the bag and turned towards me. "Open your mouth."

I did as he said and he placed the thermometer under my tongue before allowing me to close it. For the next few moments, it felt a bit awkward to me. I haven't really had someone take care of since...really ever. Yeah, back then we had nannies and maids who took care of us when Kaoru and I were sick, but I could tell that they didn't really care for us. They were just doing their job. Then with mom and dad, they were always away on business trips to take care of us, and when dad disappeared mom was too drunk to even care about our well being. The only times' mom did care about us was when she was sober that short amount of time, but even though I knew she loved us, I felt like she was mostly just trying to make up for all the abuse.

The only person who took care of us were each other. I took care of Kaoru and vise versa, but I usually tried my best to not let Kaoru take care of me because I felt like I only needed to be the one protecting and taking care of him, even though he hated it.

The sound of the thermometer broke me out of my thought and Kyoya took it out of my mouth, checking the temperature.

"104," he grumbled as he wiped the thermometer with a tissue. "If your fever doesn't go down by the time we leave around five I'll have to take you to the hospital."

"Kyoya, I can't-"

"I'm not taking no for an answer." Kyoya cut me off. "Your fever is dangerously high and I don't want you to suffer more than you already are." He began to rummage through the shopping bag again. "You already have to deal with enough shit as is."

"But what if-"

"Your mom won't find out. I'll put you under my family's name so nothing be billed to your mother." His glare turned sympathetic. "I know that you hate having people worrying about you because you want everyone to see you as strong, but you can't always be strong in certain situations and have to have people help you sometimes. Even the strongest people need help time from time."

I let out a small sigh of defeat there was no worth in fighting with him. He was right, I wanted to make people think that I was strong, both physically and emotionally. I began working out at the start of high school so I could forget about everything that was happening at home and to win most of the fights I started so people would be threatened by me. I grew mean and harsh, not taking shit from anyone who decided to test me...but what people didn't know was that I was torturing myself by doing this. School was supposed to be our escape from home, but even though I was glad to be away from mom, I was still lonely at school because everyone either feared or hated me because of this fucking act I put up...and when I finally showed someone who wasn't Kaoru who I really was, I fucked up our relationship and she wanted nothing to do with me.

I looked back up at Kyoya when I saw him take out a medicine bottle with orange color syrup in it.

"What's that?" I asked as he began shaking it.

"Cold medicine, it's going to help get your fever down." He opened the bottle and poured some of the medicine in the cap before handing it to me. "Here, drink this."

I looked at the medicine for a few seconds before hesitantly taking it, staring at the strangely orange liquid. I wasn't afraid of taking it, but my stomach was still a mess and I really didn't feel like vomiting again, but I knew Kyoya wouldn't let me refuse taking it, so I had no other choice.

I took in a deep breath before downing the medicine as of it were a shot, or so I imagined, and I instantly began coughing by how strong it was. The citrusy, bitter taste was almost as bad as the vodka and whiskey I had a few months ago when Haruhi and I got drunk, but at least that went down smoother.

Kyoya saw that I was having a difficult time keeping the medicine down and grabbed the small trash can that he left near me before left for class, but I held out my hand to stop him as he bought it up to me.

"I'm fine." I grimaced before swallowing again. "It was just a lot harder than I thought it was going to be."

"Yeah, sorry about that." Kyoya apologized. "But this is the best fast-acting medicine that I know that works."

"Well, at least I got the hard part over with." I huffed as I flopped back down on the couch.

"Well, I wouldn't say that."

I looked back over towards him with a cocked eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

He looked at the back of the bottle, scanning the words on the back for a few seconds answering. "Since your fever was so high I gave you the highest dosage and because of that you'll most likely have some side effects."

"Side effects like?"

"Drowsiness, upset stomach, headaches, feeling restless, and you might feel loopy from how strong the medicine is."

"Why didn't you tell me any of this before I took the fucking medicine?!" I hissed.

"Because," he tossed the medicine back in the bag before facing back towards me, "if I told you all the side effects you might've refused to take it."

"Whatever," I grumbled as I wrapped the blanket back around me, "It's already done."

"You shouldn't worry," Kyoya tried to reassure, "the side effects rarely ever happen, and if they do they're usually mild."

"I'll take your word for it."

* * *

 **Haruhi**

 _'Ok, you can do this. He's most likely still asleep so I just have to look after him, and even if he is awake he'll probably be too sick to be fully aware that I'm there. I can do this.'_

Haruhi gripped the handle of the door of the music room tightly, trying to build enough courage to open the door. She really did want to see him and try to make up, but she wanted to do that when he was healthy and fully aware of everything not when he was sick as a dog.

She took in a deep breath before turning the handle, knowing that there was no turning back now. Even though she wasn't ready to apologize yet, she still deeply cared about Hikaru and wanted to take care of him, even though she didn't want to admit it. Once she let out the breath she took in she opened the door, where her eyes immediately met with Kyoya's across the room, who was sitting at a table with his laptop.

"Good, you're here." Kyoya said as he resumed typing.

Haruhi slipped into the club room and softly closed the door behind her. "Is he still asleep?"

Kyoya nodded. "Yes, he fell back asleep a few minutes ago after I gave him some medicine. Even though he'll most likely remain asleep for the next hours, I'll need you to look after him while I take care of some business."

"What type of business?"

"My father requested me to talk to him," Kyoya closed his laptop before placing it in his bag, "and before you ask, no I will not tell him about Hikaru, not yet anyway."

"Why not? You saw the wounds his mom just gave him in the last twenty-four hours. You should-"

"I know, and I hate that I'm doing this but," he let out a frustrated sigh, "if I go behind Hikaru's back he won't trust me anymore. He won't come to me when he's in trouble because he'll feel like I backstabbed him. So if the abuse becomes severe, he's most likely stay put at home instead of coming to me." He met Haruhi's eyes again, which for one of the first times ever, she thought she saw a little wetness in his eyes. "That's the only reason I'm keeping quiet right now."

Haruhi swallowed the painful lump in her throat before giving Kyoya a nod. She completely understood. That was also the reason why she was keeping quiet. She could've told someone when she was avoiding Hikaru, but she knew in the back of her mind that she wanted him to keep trusting her...just in case he needed her…

Kyoya looked down at his watch. "I have to get going if I want to make it to my father on time." He got up before making his way over to Haruhi. "Like I said before he'll likely remain asleep while I'm gone, but by the chance he does wake up he'll most likely be a little loopy from the medication I gave him, so if he acts a little like a drunken sailor, that's why."

"Alright."

"I'll be back in less than an hour." He looked at Haruhi with heavy eyes, again which Haruhi has rarely even seen him have. "I'm trusting you. Please take good care of him. He's family to me."

"I will, I promise."

Kyoya gave her a small nod before glancing over at Hikaru for a few seconds, then left without another word. Once the door closed, Haruhi just remained where she was. Shifting from foot to foot as she let her eyes slowly scan over the music room until her gaze finally landed on Hikaru passed out on the couch. She couldn't help the smile forming on her face when she saw the blanket messily sprawled over him, as it kept falling off of him and Kyoya just threw it over him out of frustration, and even though she couldn't necessarily see it, but she could tell that he had his legs curled up to his stomach. Which if he wasn't in a deep sleep right it would've been highly uncomfortable. He wasn't snoring, but since his nose was most likely stuffed he was breathing out of his nose, which gave off a quiet sound.

He actually looked a lot more peaceful than he did at lunch, which was most likely from the medication Kyoya gave him, but it made her happy to see him not in much pain.

 _'Well, since he's most likely going to stay asleep, I better start on next week's homework assignments.'_

Haruhi made her way over to the couch across from Hikaru, so she had a comfy place to work, but also so she could keep a close eye on Hikaru as he slept. For the next ten minutes, Haruhi peacefully worked on her assignments, actually glancing over at Hikaru from time to time to make sure that he was still asleep. He would stir a bit, which made Haruhi pause her writing, but he would just go into another sleeping position without working up.

She let out a small grunt as she stretched her arms over her head after finishing her first assignment, letting her back give a satisfying crack. She had a few more assignments to go through, but right now she thought she should at least check up and see how Hikaru's fever was doing, but as she placed her textbook in her bag she froze when she heard him grumble something inaudible before turning his head towards her. His eyes slowly opened halfway, exposing his beautiful hazel eyes, and once he finally noticed her after a few seconds his squint turned confused.

"Haruhi…" He lifted his head slightly, squinting his eyes even more as if he was making sure he was seeing correctly. "Is that really you?"

"Uh…" She didn't really know what to say. She didn't think that he would wake up until Kyoya had gotten back, so she hadn't really prepared anything to say to him. "Yeah, I'm-"

"No, it couldn't be." He huffed as he flopped his head back tiredly on the pillow. "She hates me now. So there would be no way she would be here with me."

 _'He thinks I hate him..?'_

Of course, he did. She's been ignoring him for the past two months so there was no wonder why he thought that way, and it made her heart actually shatter. She never hated him, she was just disappointed, mostly in herself but it took her too long to notice that she was protruding that on him by cutting Hikaru off by her own embarrassment.

"I don't hate you." She quietly replied, which made Hikaru open his eyes again. "I still care about you."

He let out a short laugh. "You have a really funny way of showing it." He turned over onto his back and tightened the covers around himself as he let out a tired sigh.

"You have to understand Hikaru, I-"

"Why is this school so fucking pink?"

Haruhi blinked a bit, confused by his sudden question that had nothing to do with the conversation they were having before as if he completely forgot what they were talking about. "Huh?"

"This school," he grumbled as if he was disgusted, "it's so pink and bright. I hate it. Why can't it be a gender-neutral color like white...or white?"

Ok, so he's beginning to get loopy like Kyoya had warned her about. Although, he didn't seem that bad right now. His words were just a bit slurred and he would just start to say random shit, but nothing that bad.

"I don't know." Haruhi finally answered, deciding to just go along. "Maybe you should ask Mr. Suoh about it?"

"Maybe…" He humbled quietly.

Hikaru remained quiet so Haruhi thought he fell back asleep. She decided to continue working on her assignments, but as ten minutes passed by she began to get a weird feeling as if someone was watching her. She turned back to where Hikaru was sleeping and almost jumped out of her skin from fright when she saw that he was staring dead at her with the blanket up to his nose.

 _'I thought he was asleep. How long as he been staring at me like that?'_

"Uh…" She cleared her throat uncomfortably. "Do you need anything Hikaru?"

His glare hardened at her as if he was trying to study her, but after a few seconds, he readjusted the blanket.

"I'm thirsty." He finally answered.

"Alright, then I'll get some water then."

Haruhi remembered noticing a water bottle in the bag that Kyoya brought for Hikaru and made her way over to it. She felt a little awkward as Hikaru kept his eyes on her like a hawk. Was he mad at her? It was understable, but almost kind of felt like the time they began their tutoring sessions with hi glaring at her because he disliked her.

She grabbed the water bottle and made her way back to him, but as she was about to hand the bottle to him he roughly grabbed her forearm with his hand, making her drop the bottle.

"Hika!" She gasped.

"Shh!" He hissed harshly before looking back at her hand.

His eyes began examining her hand as if he was studying it like some kind of foreign object. Then after a few seconds, he slowly released his grip from her arm before gently putting his palm against hers, intertwining their fingers.

His glare flattered and he let out a sigh that sounded like he was relieved. "It really is you. I'm not going crazy."

So that's why he was glaring at her, he didn't know if he was seeing correctly because of the medication. He was probably nervous that another girl who had similar features to Haruhi was trying to take care of him, so he had to make sure it was actually her.

"Yes it's me Hikaru, don't worry."

She let out a small yelp when his arms suddenly wrapped around her waist, burying his face into her stomach. "I missed you."

Haruhi just remained still, not knowing how to react. She knew he missed their friendship by how he always looked at her, but yet it still shocked her that she hurt him and he was still comfortable hugging her.

She gently patted his head, feeling a little awkward in the whole ordeal, but yet she also felt a little relieved that he still trusted her, even after everything she did. He might be high of the medication and that was the only reason why he was admitting this, but all that mattered to her was that he missed her as well.

She began running her fingers through his mussed dark hair again. "I've missed you too."

His grip tightened around her as if he was scared that if he let her go she would run away from him again, but Haruhi wouldn't let that happen. It was almost as if her nurturing instinct kicked back in and she felt like it was her job again to take care of him. So, for the next thirty minutes, she just sat on the couch with Hikaru's head in her lap. He had fallen asleep around ten minutes ago, but she continued to move her hands through his hair since it seemed to soothe him. Haruhi smiled as she watched him sleep, it seemed as if he finally let all the trouble in his life go at that moment which made her happy.

She looked at the time on her phone. Kyoya was supposed to be back in about twenty minutes and to be honest she kind of wished he would've stayed out a bit late. Yeah, Hikaru might be acting like a completely different person from the medication, but she was enjoying their time together.

She looked back at her books on the couch across from them. She really wanted to continue her studies, but she was afraid that is she moved she would wake Hikaru up, similar as if a person had a sleeping dog on their lap and didn't want to disturb them.

However, when she tried putting her phone back in her pocket, the sudden movement must've woken Hikaru up. She cursed to herself in her head as she heard him grumble as he shifted around on the couch.

His eyes crept open at Haruhi, furrowing his brows almost as if he was glaring at her for waking him up.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to wake you up." She apologized in a soft tone to try to get him to relax again. "Just go back to sleep."

"I'm not tired." He murmured as he pulled the blanket up to his nose, but Haruhi knew he was lying by how tired he still sounded and closed his eyes again.

"Well, then try to fall back asleep again. You need the rest."

Hikaru just mumbled something under his breath as she began running her finger through his hair again. For the next few minutes she tried her hardest to keep her laughter in as she watched him struggled to stay awake, just like those puppies in the videos that her dad always showed her.  
"Can I tell you something?" Hikaru asked in a hushed tone.

"Sure."

 _'Please don't make it inappropriate though.'_

"That night after Kyoya's party when we got drunk and you know…"

 _'Oh God, not this.'_ Haruhi cringed as Hikaru continued.

"That was actually my first time doing something like that."

…

Haruhi just blinked, not knowing if she should be shocked that he just admitted to being a virgin himself before they slept together or have no reaction at all because is she thought about it, it wasn't that surprising. He hated being touched by anyone, and sex was literally just that (and of course other things) so it would be obvious that he was a virgin, even though just by looking at him people would think the exact opposite.

"That night...was your first time as well?" She finally choked out, which Hikaru nodded to.

"Yeah, if I could be honest, the furthest I've actually ever gone with any girl before you was kissing her. Not really even making out. Even though they tried to on many occasions."

"Why are you telling me this."

He shrugged before letting out a small yawn. "I don't know. I guess I just want you know that all those rumors are false about me. I haven't slept with someone, I haven't done anything sexual with someone. Hell, I haven't really ever held one of my former flings hands, but with you. I feel different."

"Different how?"

Hikaru remained quiet for a few seconds before slowly sitting up. Haruhi tried to get him to lie back down, afraid of what he might be planning to do but he just aggressively ripped himself out of her grip. She didn't want to hurt him so she just let him go and watched as he had his back to her, grumbling inaudible words to himself before finally facing her with a dark glare. Did she somehow upset him? He was fine until she asked how she was different. Was he angry that she didn't know the full reason why, but he shouldn't be since he never told her before?

"Hikaru, if you're mad-"

He cut her off by covering her mouth with his hand and leaned in close to her. "Shut up," he breathed out, "just shut up for a few seconds."

He slowly moved his hand to her cheek, cupping it as he stared into her eyes. Haruhi gulped as she began to feel her heart beat rapidly in her chest. Fuck, why was her body acting this way? It hasn't acted this way since she acknowledged Tamaki, but there had to be a completely different reason for why she was feeling this way right now. Maybe she was getting sick from hanging around Hikaru for so long. Yeah, that had to be it.

"Hika…"

They just continued to stare into each other eyes for a few seconds longer before he slowly leaned in and encased her lips with his. Haruhi didn't know how to respond or react, so she just stayed still with wide eyes as Hikaru just kissed her. Why wasn't she stopping him? She could have stopped him before his lips met hers, but she didn't. Was it out of shock? It had to be, there was no other reason why she would be letting this happen.

The kiss wasn't disgusting, it was actually quite nice. His lips were soft and sweet, and the kiss was innocent. No tongue, no biting, just lips against hers as if he was testing the waters a bit. The only issue she had with the kiss was that he was sick.

He separated from her before laying his head on his shoulder before letting out an obnoxiously loud cough, ruining the moment and finally breaking Haruhi out of her trance.

"Gross Hikaru," she grumbled before wiping her lips, "I swear if I get sick because of you I'm going to kill you."

He let out a deep grumble from his chest as a reply, as if he didn't fully hear her which caused her to glare at him. He might've been loopy from the medicine, but she wasn't going to let him get her sick because he wants to get close to her.

She placed her hands on Hikaru's chest to try and pry him off of her, but as her hands touched the thin fabric of his uniform shirt she halted when she felt that his shirt was soaking wet. It didn't take a genius to tell that it was sweat, his body underneath her hands was burning hot and his skin was moist. How the fuck did she not notice this sooner?

She gently pushed him off of her to see his face and saw that he was slightly panting as he had his eyes closed. His bangs were wet and sticking to his glistening forehead. His fever must've spiked up with all the layers he was wearing and was getting overheated. He needed to get his layers off before he gets heat exhaustion and gets even sicker.

"Hikaru," she said to get his attention, "you're getting overheated. You need to take your jacket off."

"No…" He drawled. "If I take off my jackets I'll be freezing. I want to keep warm."

"Hikaru..."

She cupped his cheek gingerly, her heart hurting a bit as she felt him stiffen by her touch. He didn't trust her anymore, and it hurt her. She knew that she had ruined their friendship, but reality finally hit her on how much damage she left. She could feel the tears welling up in her eyes and was about to remove her hand from his cheek when Hikaru placed his hand on top of hers and leaned his cheek comfortably in her hand as if it was made to fit there. Haruhi let a couple of tears fall as a small smile touched her lips. After everything he still trusted her, and she thanked God for that.

"I know that your cold but your body is overheating. I don't want you to get worse than you already are." She moved his bangs out of his face, making him open his eyes. "Please, if you get too cold I'll put the blanket back over you, alright?" He seemed hesitant for a few seconds but squeezed her hand tighter before nodding. "Alright, let's take your jackets then lie you back down."

Haruhi got up from the couch and got behind Hikaru before peeling off each top layer of clothing he had on.

 _'God, no wonder he's sweating profusely. He's wearing three layers if jackets in a seventy-one-degrees room.'_

Once she unbuttoned his blazer and slipped it off she noticed he had stopped panting. Hikaru still had his eyes closed and seemed like he could doze back off at any moment, but his body was shivering a bit from not being protected by his jackets anymore, but he also seemed as if he was feeling a lot better from no longer being overheated. Now she only had to take off his shirt and she could lie him back down to rest.

The male Ouran uniform shirts were pretty thin, but since he was sweating so much his shirt was literally soaked, so it would only make him colder. Haruhi reached for his shirt to began to unbutton it but he gently grabbed her hand before she could undo the first button.

Haruhi looked up at him and saw that he still had his eyes closed. "Hikaru?"

"Don't…" His tone was hushed, barely a whisper. "Please don't…"

"Hikaru, I know that you're cold but once I get your shirt off I can wrap the blanket around you."

"That's not it. It's…"

His grip tightened around her hands as his jaw tensed as is he was trying you hold back the emotions that were threatening to spill out. Was he embarrassed about her undressing him? If she could be honest with herself she was too. She hasn't seen him shirtless since the night that drunkenly slept together and felt a little awkward that she undressing him (or she believed so) but this time sober. Hikaru's eyes crept open and he looked into Haruhi's, pleading for her to let go, but even though she wanted to listen to his request his health was far more important than their embarrassment.

"Hikaru, I need to take off your shirt. I can't risk you getting even sicker. I know you might feel a bit uncomfortable but I promise I…"

Her words trailed off when she gently placed her free hand on his chest, feeling his muscle twitch underneath almost as if her touch hurt him. She stared at her hand for a few seconds before slowly lifting it and looking back at the buttons on his shirt as a lightbulb lit up inside her head. He wasn't embarrassed about her undressing him, he didn't want her to see his body because…

Haruhi smacked Hikaru's hand away, startling him as she began unbuttoning his shirt quickly before he had any time to stop her.

"Haruhi-"

She ripped his shirt open, not even caring if any of the buttons popped off and instantly grew horrified at the horrifying image in front of her. Black, blue, and yellow bruises were covering his stomach, and the one in the center of his stomach looked fresh, as if it only happened less than a day ago. There was a large cut that started from his left shoulder, going down until the center of his chest, leaving a few inch gap before continuing until it met his right rib cage. The skin that was cut looked jagged as something other than a blade caused the cut. It looked a few days old and seemed like it was starting to heal, but it was uncertain if it was going to leave a scar or not yet.

"Hikaru…" She looked back up at Hikaru to see that he was facing away from her as if he was ashamed of her seeing his body like this. Kyoya only told her about Hikaru being locked out last night. Did he even know about the bruises?

She bit her lip to suppress the tears and anger that was building up inside her for his mother and herself. If she just stopped being so fucking stubborn and fixed their friendship then he could've come to her for help. She also wanted to ask him what his mother did for him to get this hurt, but decided against it since she needed him to rest.

She cleared her throat before sliding his shirt off. "Alright, let's lie you down."

"Haruhi…"

"Shh," she helped him gently to lie back down on the couch, 'just get some rest then later, if you want, we can talk about everything, alright?"

Hikaru nodded and Haruhi placed the blanket back over him, sitting on the armrest next to him as she watched him fall back asleep in a few minutes. She considered if she should now finish up her assignments for next Monday, but as she looked back down at Hikaru's face decided against it. There were more important things than school right now, and he was one of them.

* * *

 **Hikaru**

I was awoken by a weird pleasurable sensation through my hair as if someone with angel-like fingers were running their fingers through it. After a few seconds of enjoying the pleasure, I suddenly grew confused. When I fell asleep Kyoya was the only one in the room with me, and I highly doubt it was him who was doing this. So if it wasn't him then who was in the club room with me?

I slowly opened my eyes to see who was here with me and instantly grew surprised when I saw it was Haruhi of all people. She was sitting on the armrest of the chair, reading a book that was in her free hand as she ran her free hand through my hair. Why was she here? Didn't she hate me after the night we slept together? So why was she here with me, and seemed to be comforting me?

"Haruhi..?"

Haruhi looked away from her book at me, and literally jumped up when she saw that I was awake.

"Oh you're awake." She said in a strangely calm as she placed her book on the coffee table. "How are you feeling? Do you want anything?"

"I uh…" I swallowed, feeling that my throat was dry, as I continued to stare at her confused. "I would like some water."

"Sure thing." She smiled, which only confused me further.

She walked over to the closest table to a white bag and pulled out a water bottle before coming back and handing it to me. I went to go reach for it, but as I extended my hand from underneath the blanket I finally noticed that it was bare from any clothing. I halted and brought my arm in front of my eyes to try and figure out what happened to all the layers I remembered having on when I fell asleep.

"Where's...Where's my shirt?" I asked.

"Oh uh," I looked back up at Haruhi who seemed a little hesitant to answer the question, "your fever spiked up so I had to take your jacket and shirt off so you could cool off." Her expression grew doleful. "I saw the bruises and cuts on your chest."

"Oh…" I quietly responded as I held the blanket tighter around my body, looking away from her eyes.

I didn't fully know why, but I suddenly wanted to just cry. It might have been that I felt vulnerable right now with my shirt off since I couldn't hide the damage mom did to my body, or maybe I was feeling a bit of happiness that she was actually talking to me and seemed to care for me after so long, but if that was the case...why did I want her to leave?

She must've felt my uneasiness and I could sense her reaching for my hand out towards me, but seemed to stop once she noticed my body tensing up. "Hika…"

"Can I have my shirt back please?" I asked, still facing away from her as I fiddled with the water bottle in my hands.

"Oh, yeah sure." She said and walked over to the couch across from us and grabbed my uniform from the armrest before giving it back to me. "It might still be a little wet. Just so you'd know."

"Thanks…" I quietly mumbled as I took my shirt from her.

We were silent for the next few moments as I put my shirt and began buttoning it up. Even though Haruhi had seen the wounds on my chest, I still turned away from her as I put my shirt back on. I still couldn't comprehend why she was here. Just yesterday she was ignoring me and barely look at me in the eye, but now she was suddenly taking care of me as if nothing happened. It was weird, but I wasn't going to lie, I was glad she wasn't mad at me anymore, hopefully. But I still couldn't help but feel extremely awkward about her being here. Especially seeing me so helpless like this…

I finished buttoning up the last few buttons of my shirt, keeping the collar open before letting out an exhausted, running my hand through my unruly hair. I could still feel Haruhi's eyes on me which was beginning to make me feel a little self-conscious. I knew that she was staring at my chest and face at where the bruises and cuts were. I instantly wrapped my arms around my body and turned my head away from me.

"Hikaru," she said as she sat back down on the armrest, "I know that it's been a few month since everything that happened, but I really want you to know-"

The door to the club room opened, ceasing Haruhi's words and made us look over to see Kyoya entering the club room with another plastic bag full of items.

"Oh good, you're awake Hikaru." Kyoya said as he closed the door. He walked over to us on the couch and placed the bag next to me. "Here," he reached into the bag and to my surprise handed me an IPhone box, "I got you this."

I just stared at him in complete shock then back at the phone, trying to form any words to respond. "You...got me a phone?"

"Yeah, you had a seven before right? They didn't have any XS's so I got you the XR." He put the box into my hand with a smile. "Hopefully you like red."

"Why?" I asked.

"I felt bad by how you lost your phone so after the meeting with my dad I stopped by a phone store along the way," his smile grew, "and don't worry, I got Kaoru one too. A white one."

"You didn't have to do this Kyoya. I would've been fine without a phone."

He let out a sigh as he crossed his arms over his chest. "I wouldn't be able to sleep at night knowing you didn't have a phone to contact me if anything happened to you at home. I know Kaoru and you don't like anyone buying you guys anything, but this is important and I hope you'll be willing to take it."

"Thanks...This really means a lot."

Kyoya's smile returned before he ruffled my hair as I began opening the box. "Hey, that's what family is for. I also got you a case and a screen protector for you so you don't have to worry about breaking it."

"What about-"

"I already imported everything from your cloud. So you'll have all your contacts and messages on there. So you don't have to worry about that."

I turned on the phone, seeing the white apple logo pop up on the black screen for a few seconds before the lock screen popped up and when I was finally able to see the time my heart almost stopped. It was 5:30, I was supposed to be home an hour ago. Mom was going to be furious.

"I have to go." I said as I shot up from the couch, but before I could even take a step Kyoya put a hand to my chest to stop me.

"Hold on, you're not leaving yet. I still have to check your temperature to make sure you're well enough to go home."

"But Kyoya-"

I suddenly felt someone gently grab my hand and I looked down to see Haruhi cupping my hand in her. "Please Hikaru, we just want to make sure your fever has gone down. Then if it is you can go home, alright?"

I felt a slight blush heat up on my cheeks as I stared deep into her brown eyes. Hopefully, she didn't see my face reddening and thought it was just the fever. I let out a sigh and sat back down on the couch as Kyoya got the thermometer ready. Haruhi must've noticed that I was getting restless as we waited for the thermometer to finish and squeezed my hands as if she was trying to comfort me and I responded with squeezing her hand back.

The next few seconds were agonizingly slow as I waited for the beep to go off, praying that my fever has at least gone somewhat down so I wouldn't have to go to the hospital. I couldn't afford mom getting even angrier with me right now. Who knows what she will do after yesterday?

Once the beep finally went off, Kyoya took the thermometer out of my mouth and looked at the temperature on the tiny screen. I could feel Haruhi squeeze my hand tighter as she sensed my nerves grow, which actually was quite comforting. I don't know if we'll go back to being friends after everything that happened a month ago, but I was glad that she was here with me right now.

Kyoya was silent for a second longer before putting the thermometer away in his bag. "It looks like you fever has gone down to 100 degrees, which is good. We don't have to take you to the hospital."

"Great, can I go home now?"

"One more thing." Kyoya took out his wallet and handed me a card, which I just furrowed my eyebrows at.

"What's this?" I asked.

"A debit card. I was able to convince the bank to get me another card for you so you can have it to buy anything you need. There's no real limit on it, but don't just go out and buy everything you want, just the essentials you need and then some."

Kyoya this is too much. You already bought me a new phone and now you're giving me a debit card. I don't need all this."

"You have barely had any access to money for almost two months and I can tell it's wearing you down. You can't afford the high priced meals at school and I know your mother is refusing to let you bring any food here or you would have packed lunch for school. You've recently started trying to find ways to commute to school without taking your car because you can't afford to fill up your car."

"How did you-"

"I have my ways of getting information Hikaru, you should know that by now." I looked away from him, feeling ashamed that he found out about it. I know that he wanted me to tell him everything that was going on at home, but I knew once he found out he would become overprotective of me again and drop almost everything he was doing to make sure I didn't want him to worry and just focus on himself and not just me…

"Hikaru, you have nothing to be ashamed of." Kyoya said as if he could read my mind. "It's not your fault that you're in this situation, but I know you feel like it is. That's the main reasons why you don't like asking for help. Am I correct?"

I nodded after a few silent moments, agreeing with everything he said. "I know you're probably sick of me telling you this because I've said it so many times before, but I'm here for you and all I want to do is help you and Kaoru through everything. So please," he nudged me the card closer to me, "let me help you by taking this card."

I looked back up to him, seeing in his eyes that he was pleading for me to take it, and out of the corner of his eyes I could see that Haruhi was giving me the same look, which finally broke me. I took the card from him and made it seem I was scanning over it, but in reality I just didn't want them to see the wetness in my eyes.

"Thank you." I mumbled out, so my voice wouldn't crack. "Can I go home now? I was supposed to be home an hour ago. I don't want mom to get angry with me again."

"Sure," he handed me the bag he brought in with him," in here is some lighter medicine for you to take and I got you some sports drinks for you to get some electrolytes." I took them from him and nodded a thank you. "I would offer you a ride home, but I know you're just going to refuse it."

"I brought my car today, so you don't have to worry."

"Alright, call me when you get home. I want to make sure you're safe."

"Alright, sure." I huffed out.

"Oh, uh Hikaru." Haruhi quietly spoke up, but as I looked over at her she looked away from me as soon as we made eye contact. Was that a blush on her face as well?

"Yeah?" I asked once she was silent for a few moments.

"I uh…" She cleared her throat, still facing away from me as if she could stand to look at me anymore, which made my heart hurt. "Nevermind…"

My expression fell a bit at her response, but I turned from her before anyone could notice. Even though I thought it was too good to be true, I actually thought we might have been able to become friends again, but by the way, she was acting now, I guess not…

* * *

As I went to unlock my front door I couldn't stop my hand from shaking as I unlocked the door. I knew that mom was just on the other side waiting angrily for me. As I finally got the key into the lock I gulped before turning the key, my heart pounding as I heard the click of the door being unlocked.

I slowly crept open the door, trying my best to try to calm my nerves so I wouldn't show mom any weakness, but to my surprise when I opened the door wide enough to see inside the house, mom wasn't there. I just stood there confused. I didn't know if I should be relieved or worried that mom wasn't here. Usually if I came home late mom would be waiting for me and either be sickenly kind and bombard me with questions about how my school day was, or she would be furious with me and yell or hurt me.

I placed my bags and jackets on the couch before making my way over to her office. I didn't plan on her seeing me, I just wanted to take a peek to see if she was in there or not, which she wasn't. Now I was starting to grow worried. I saw that her car was in the driveway, but not Isao's, though he was probably still at work. I checked to see if she was in her room, but as I got up the stairs I saw that the door to her bedroom was wide open, which it never was.

Now I was on the verge of panicking. Where the fuck was she? I rushed down the stairs and ran to the kitchen to grab the phone to call Isao, but just as I was about to dial his number I noticed a note on the refrigerator door.

I walked up to it and plucked the note from the magnet that was holding it and read the note.

 _'Hikaru,_

 _Isao and I will be in London for two weeks for London fashion weeks. While we're gone I expect you can be trusted by following the rules and tasks I have assigned you that are on the counter. Don't disappoint me._

 _-Mom'_

I looked over towards the corner counter and saw a stack of papers in front of the coffee machine. I tossed the note to the side and walked over to the counter before grabbing the stack of paper, counting each page as I flipped through them, which ended up being around twenty-six pages. What the fuck was so important for me to so that it took up twenty six pages? I picked up the first page of the typed out, small print rules and began reading some of the rules.

 _-Every day you must clean and vacuum each room in the house. If anything is dirty when we get home you will be punished._

 _-You are not allowed to bring anyone home under any circumstances. If there is an emergency go to one of the neighbors houses._

 _-You must come straight home after school. If I hear one of our neighbors that you were late there will be consequences._

 _-Tend the garden everyday, as well as clean the back and front yard._

 _-When we return home, cook us a lavish meal to welcome us home?_

What the actual fuck? Most of these rules were just shit and I haven't even read half the first page yet. We didn't even have a fucking garden anymore since mom let all the plants wilt away once she forgot about them, and what the hell was with the last chore on the page?

 _-Dye the pound pink!_

She got that from a fucking movie, and we don't even having a fucking pond! I groaned as I set the stack back on the counter, rubbing my temples as I felt a headache coming on. I was too sick to deal with all this shit right now. All I wanted to do right now was have a quick dinner before going to bed. I coughed a couple of times in my sleeve before making my way over to the cabinet where we kept all the cereal, but as I opened it I saw that all the cereal was gone, and not just the cereal was missing, the whole entire cabinet was bare. I blinked a bit in confusion then opened another cabinet just in case the boxes were moved, but just like the cabinet before, it was empty.

As a bad feeling began to set in my gut, I began searching each cabinet and when I saw that they were all empty as well, even the pantry that was full of food this morning was bare. Where the hell did all the food go? I was positive that there was some here before I left for school, and even if there wasn't, why would they the country without having any food here for me.

My eyes caught the sight of a small white post-it note on the back of the wall of the pantry and I picked it off before reading it.

 _'Since you've been causing me a fuck ton of trouble these past few days, I decided to give some food to people who actually deserve it. If you want a meal, get it yourself!'_

I growled and crumbled the note before throwing it to the wall with all the force I could muster, which wasn't much. Who the hell was so important that mom would give our whole food supply to and let her own son fucking starve. Well, I got my answer when there was a knock at the door.

I didn't know if I should answer it or not. I haven't. I haven't read anything about answering the door, but granted I haven't even passed the first page. All I knew was that I couldn't bring anyone over, but what if it was farther down the stack saying that I'm not allowed to, or if I am able to and if I don't answer I'll be in trouble?

I decided to just answer the door, praying that I wasn't breaking any rules and once I opened the front door a crack I was greeted by the smiling Yoshido family, well the parents were smiling while Mari just smirked flirtatiously at me like usual.

"Yes?" I said as I opened the door the rest of the way.

"Hey Hikaru," Ayumi greeted sickening happily, "Mari told us that you weren't feeling well today so we decided to drop by to see how you're doing and give you some dinner we made you from the food you parents gave us."

"Food my parents gave you?"

I finally noticed that she was holding a baking pan covered in tin foil in her hands, which began to connect everything together for me. I could feel myself growing angry. These were the people that deserved our food more than me?!

"Yes, your parents dropped by this morning saying they were going away on a long trip and didn't want the food you mostly wouldn't eat go to waste. So since you're sick, I whipped up some Italian dish for you since Mari informed us you like pasta." She offered for me to take the pan from her. "I hope you'll enjoy it."

From how I almost puked eating the meal she made last time, I highly doubt it.

"Thanks." I grumbled as I took the dinner from her, not wanting to be rude in fear it would get back to mom.

"Well, I hope you feel better soon." Akio said as I looked back up from the meal. "If you need anything we'll be right across the street, alright?"

I gave him a nod before they said their goodbyes and left. Well of course, everyone except Mari, who remained where she was but I shut the door on her before she could even try to make a pass at me for the one hundred forty-ninth time this week. Yes, I've been counting and this number was the least of them all. I was already having a shitty day so I didn't need her adding more to it as she tried to get into my pants.

I let out another tired sigh and went to the dining room before grabbing a fork. Even though I knew that Ayumi's cooking was shit, it was the only thing in the house that was actually edible...hopefully.

I peeled back the tin foil on top of the pan and to my surprise saw an actual decent meal of Tuscan chicken pasta. I couldn't smell it due to my nose being stuffed, but I could only imagine that it smelled amazing. Maybe at the dinner at their house a few months ago she was just having an off day, everyone has one. I took a seat and stabbed a few noodles and chicken with my fork before eating it, and it was actually pretty good. The meal was far cry from what Gordon Ramsay would approve of, but for me, who hadn't had a real full meal in about two days, it was almost orgasmic.

I picked at the meal for an hour or so as I watched some TV, and once I literally could stomach anymore since the sauce was too thick, I placed the leftovers in the fridge before deciding to turn in early because I knew that starting tomorrow, every days were going to be hell for the next two weeks.

* * *

 **Haruhi**

Haruhi groaned as she clenched her stomach as she laid on the couch, burying her knees to her chest so she was almost forming a ball. She was nauseous, her whole hurt, and she felt so fatigued that she could barely get up, probably from throwing up so much this past week.

"I blame Hikaru for all this." She grumbled as she tightened the blanket around herself. "I may have wanted to make up with him and tried to be friends again but not like this. I fucking despise him for doing this to me."

It's been a week since Haruhi took care of Hikaru when he was sick, and since then she was feeling like absolute shit, but not in the same way he was. He had a horrible fever while she felt completely fine other than her stomach. She's been vomiting about everyday and feeling too exhausted to get out of bed, so even though it was against her wishes she's been staying home all week, and doing homework her dad brought home whenever she felt well enough.

Although, even though Haruhi still felt like she was dying, she was actually feeling one thousand times better than from when she woke up. She usually felt extremely sick in the morning, mild or nothing at all during the afternoon and evenings, then sick again at night, and no amount of medicine felt like it was helping. Even chugging down a bottle of Pepto Bismol in one sitting did nothing.

Finally, after what felt like hours, which only was about thirty minutes or so, Haruhi's stomach finally began to settle and now the only pains she was feeling was hunger pains since she hasn't eaten anything all day.

But just as she sat up, there was a sudden fast-paced knocks at her door. She glanced over at the door confused. She wasn't expecting anyone today, and it couldn't have been her dad since he just left to go shopping. Could he have forgotten something and locked himself out? But he knew where the spare key was hidden so it couldn't have been him unless he somehow forgot where they've always kept the spare key since living here.

With an annoyed huff, Haruhi heaved herself off the couch and made her way to the door, and grew instantly surprised at who was in front of her once she opened the door.

"Hikaru?"

He jumped a bit since he wasn't facing her and turned his head towards her. He was soaked from the rain that was pouring outside, even though he was wearing two jackets. He had a grey hoodie underneath his leather jacket, probably because he was still a bit sick from his cold last week, and to also use the hoodie's hood to shield his head from the rain, but what really caught Haruhi's attention was that his facial expression was completely haunted, as if he was terrified of something major. Could have something happened with his mom and he came over for her help? But she would've thought he would go over to Kyoya before her since he might not fully trust her again yet.

"Hikaru, what's wron-"

"Haruhi can I ask you something?" He finally spoke, his voice brittle and shaky, which made Haruhi more worried.

"Sure, you can ask me anything."

"I, uh…" He looked away from her for a bit, shifting from foot to foot as he grew more nervous. "I-I need you to be one hundred percent honest with me, ok?"

"Alright, just tell me what's wrong."

"Af-After that night when we...we didn't use...you know..."

"Huh?"

"I just need to know because we did...I...and you..."

"Hikaru, you're really scaring me."

His eyes trailed to her midsection before finally meeting hers again for a few seconds then gulped before asking,

"Are you pregnant?"

...


	19. Chapter 18

**Hikaru**

 _ **Eight hours earlier**_

 _I yawned and stretched my arms over my head as I walked down the hall towards my homeroom. I was exhausted, I haven't had a decent night of sleep all week since I've been doing all the chores mom left me. My day usually consisted of waking up around four in the morning doing so many chores I could do in the next three hours, either making a quick breakfast or skipping it completely, then going to school, tutoring, come back home to do more chores, hopefully finishing on time to squeeze in some homework and dinner, then after finally finishing everything I usually went to bed around two, only giving me about two hours of sleep if I'm lucky._

 _I turned into my classroom and grew disappointed to see Haruhi's desk was empty again. She had been gone all week and I was getting a little worried. Usually, if she was sick she would show up to school so something else must be going on. I really wanted to try and maybe rekindle our relationship a bit since I knew she didn't hate me, but with her not here it's been impossible. Yeah, I could text her since I still had her number, but I wanted to talk to her face to face, not over a fucking screen._

 _I sat down at my desk and didn't bother taking anything out as I placed my head in my hand. I had about fifteen minutes to kill, so I might as well try to get a little more shut-eye before class starts._

 _"Did you hear about Sakura?" A girl's voice piped up beside me as she talked to another female student._

 _"No, what about her?"_

 _"She hooked up with Makoto Kobayashi from class D a few months ago and just found out last week that she's pregnant. That's why she hasn't been attending school these past few days."_

 _My eyes shot open as soon as those words left her mouth and the rest of their conversation faded out as everything began to piece together. Haruhi and I hooked up a few months ago...and she hasn't been attending school these past few days...but that has to mean something else, right? I mean, it was both our first times and I used...oh fuck._

 _How could I have been so stupid? Of course, we didn't use any protection. We didn't even plan on hooking up that night, it just happened while we were drunk. It should've been my first thought after about the possibilities of her getting pregnant, but I was too occupied on trying to fix our relationship and with everything at home that the thought of pregnancy was the last thought from my mind. I can't be a father right now. I'm only seventeen and my life is far from prepared for having a kid. I mean my own god damn mother abuses me for just breathing, so what would she do to me once she found out I got Haruhi pregnant. She'll probably kill me for tarnishing our name. I can just imagine the tabloids._

 _'The famous fashion designer Yuzuha Hitachiin's son is fathering a child with a low-class commoner out of wedlock.'_

 _There was no "probability," she was going to kill me, and if not me she might hurt Haruhi or the baby._

 _I swallowed back the bile in my throat as I began to feel sick from my nerves. I couldn't see how I looked, but how cold my body was and my involuntary shaking, I know that my skin must've been ghostly white. I had to go see Haruhi, if she was pregnant with my child I had to be there for her, but what if she doesn't want to see me? I probably ruined her life...No, I don't care about her hatred towards me right now. I had to know._

 _I shot up from my seat and grabbed my bag before rushing towards the door, but as I turned to the corner as I left the classroom I almost collided with a certain teacher._

 _"Where do you think you're going?" Mrs. Amari asked, her voice stern as if she thought I was up to something._

 _"Mrs-Mrs Amari, what are you doing here?" I stuttered out, which only cause her suspicious glare to harden._

 _"Mr. Hirota is running late so since I don't have a class this period I was requested to look after his." She crossed her arms over her chest. "Now, answer my question."_

 _"I...I…" I couldn't think of an excuse. I couldn't just say, 'Hey I need to go because I think I impregnated my best friend because we drunkenly slept together a few months ago and I have to visit her to confirm it or not.' Yeah, that definitely makes me look good in Mrs. Amari's eyes since she already fucking hated me._

 _She placed a hand on her hip as she grew impatient. "I see that you can't come up with an excuse." She snapped her fingers as if I was a dog and pointed back to the classroom. "Get back inside."_

 _"But-"_

 _"No buts, I'm not going to hear any of you excuses to try to get out of school today, and if you try to leave during the school hours today I will talk to Mr. Suoh and be contacting your parents. Do you understand?"_

 _I felt myself involuntarily shudder as she brought up contacting mom. Even though she was all the way in London, I could just imagine how furious she was going to be if she thought her son was embarrassing our name, and when she got home…_

 _I let out a sigh, knowing that there was no getting through Mrs. Amari and turned back into the classroom to head back to my seat as Mrs. Amari began class._

 _For the whole day, I couldn't focus. My mind would just go to Haruhi and us possibly becoming parents. I was worried about her and if she was pregnant the baby. How was she going to afford to take care of it? Her father's paycheck could barely support the both of them, so how are they going to support a baby? Would she give it up for adoption? I wouldn't want to lose my kid...but with here financial issues and my shitty home life, maybe it was for the best..._

 _As soon as tutoring ended I hopped into my car and sped over to Haruhi's, not even caring how hard it was raining or if I was breaking the speed limit. I made it to Haruhi's house in about five minutes, which usually took around twenty minutes. I didn't care if I parked incorrectly or not and threw on my hood from the hoodie that was underneath my leather jacket before going out into the rain to Haruhi's apartment, but as I reached her door I froze. I didn't know what to say to her and if she was pregnant she definitely wouldn't want to see me, but I needed to talk to her for her to confirm if she is or not._

 _My anxiety began to skyrocket through the roof as I tried to figure out what to do that I began pacing back and forth because I couldn't keep still. If I did talk to her and found out she was carrying my child she might be furious and want nothing to do with me again, but if I don't talk to her...I will maybe never know if she is or not._

 _No, I had to talk to her. I need to stop being a fucking coward and I need to knock on the door to get her to come out, and that's what I did. But one my knuckles left the door I began to panic._

 _'Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! I can't do this. I need to go before she opened the door and sees me.'_

 _I looked over towards my car across the street and wanted to run towards it, but my feet were glued to the ground as if God refused for me to leave._

 _"Hikaru?"_

 _I jumped at the sound of my name and looked back in front of me to see Haruhi in an oversized shirt and pajama bottoms, which didn't make me feel any better. She looked shocked to see me, which was understandable I guess. Even though we somewhat made up we weren't anywhere near going back to where we were before our falling out._

 _I gulped and clenched the fabric in my jacket pockets to try and calm my nerves. There's no running away from it now. I have to ask her._

* * *

 **Haruhi**

 _"Are you pregnant?"_

 _..._

Haruhi just blinked a few times, trying to process what Hikaru had asked her. "Huh?"

"Are you pregnant?"

"What? No, no, no." Haruhi denied profusely and nervously laughed. "I am far from pregnant."

"Are-Are you sure?" Hikaru asked his voice still shaky from nerves. "I mean when we...you know...we didn't…"

Haruhi finally caught on what Hikaru was trying to say and was tempted to reach out and comfort him, but since he was already tense she decided it was the best idea.

"Yes Hikaru, I'm positive that I'm not pregnant. Don't worry."

"But-But…" He stuttered out. "Are you 100% sure?"

"Yes I am, and if you still don't believe me, I have proof that I'm not."

Hikaru furrowed his eyebrows, confused at what she meant. Haruhi could see the gears moving in his head and when Haruhi cocked her eyebrow at him it finally clicked in his brain and his face flushed red.

"N-No, I believe you...but how? We didn't...use anything…"

Haruhi felt her own face heat up and cleared her throat. "Well, after I come home that morning that was the first thing that popped into my mind. I called my friend Mei and begged her to buy me the morning after pill because I knew if I bought it word would get back to my dad since he knows everyone in our town. I took the pill once I got it and was relieved later a few weeks later when...you know."

Hikaru remained silent for a few moments, letting everything he just heard process through like an old computer. He then ran his hand through his damp hair before smiling and letting out a relieved. "Thank God."

"If I may ask, what made you think I was pregnant in the first place?"

"I overheard a few female classmates gossiping about this one girl who was in a similar situation as us but got pregnant and hasn't been attending school, and since you've been gone all week I got worried." His smile then fell and grew concerned again. "Wait, if you're not pregnant then why have you been gone all week?"

"Oh, well since I had to take care of you last Friday I got really sick. So I had to stay home all week."

"Sorry…" Hikaru apologized sheepishly as he looked away.

"You don't have anything to apologize for Hikaru." Haruhi reassured, making him look back up at her with as if he was a guilty puppy. "Your mother was the reason why you got sick in the first place so."

"But, if I didn't oversleep and fail my test then none of this would've happened…"

Was he blaming himself for his mother's actions? It wasn't surprising if Haruhi actually thought about it. Usually whoever is in an abusive relationship, either romantic or family, they usually made the person they're abusing feel like no matter what they did was their fault. When Haruhi first met Hikaru, he would always say his mom punished him for nothing and blamed him for literally everything that went wrong. It must have been mentally draining for him by his mother abusing him that he began believing it himself.

"Hikaru…" Haruhi placed a hand on his arm, feeling it stiffen a bit underneath. "None of this is your fault. Your mother is the one who is abusing you for no reason, it's her fault and your step dad's for just sitting around and letting it happen. You're the real victim here."

She saw Hikaru's eyes began to turn glassy with tears and he bit his lip to keep it from trembling. It must've been a long time since someone actually has told him that and it was overwhelming for him to hear.

She knew Hikaru wouldn't like it, but she just couldn't help but wrap her arms around him into a hug. His body grew tense and he put his hands on her shoulders as if he was going to push her away, but instead of pushing her away like Haruhi thought he was going to do, he wrapped his arms around her neck to hug her back. She then began to feel moisture dripping on her shoulder and soon realized that he was crying. He must've been holding back his real emotions for so long so no one would worry about him...or maybe to convince himself that he was alright, and it made her heartbreak for him.

"I'm sorry for everything that's happening to you," she whispered to him, feeling her own eyes began to water, "but I promise that I'll always be here for you no matter what. I won't make the mistake of leaving you ever again. I'm here for you."

She felt his arms tighten around her and she let a few of her own tears fall as she felt him crying harder. He let out a few ragged breaths as Haruhi placed her head on his chest.

"I know…"

* * *

 **Hikaru**

I entered my house and was greeted by the dark empty living room that I've been accustomed to seeing all week. I would've usually been happy that mom was away for two weeks but since I had so many chores to do I haven't had any time to relax. All I wanted to do when I got home from school was to make some food, sit on the couch and let all my worries drift away, but I wouldn't be able to finish my chores if I sat down and just wanted one show.

Haruhi offered me to stay for dinner, which I was first reluctant about. I knew that if mom found out I came home late she would be furious with me and punish me like she threatened I haven't hung out with Haruhi for so long, so I decided to take her up on her offer. At first, it was a bit awkward. It seemed as if we both didn't really know how to start the conversation, but after a few minutes, we began talking as if we never stopped being friends. Were we back to where we were before we slept together? No, but hopefully we'll be able to go back there soon since we were back to being friendly towards each other.

I turned the lights to the kitchen on and placed my bag on the kitchen table before looking around the room. It looked almost spotless, but I knew that I had to clean it all over again. Along with vacuuming the carpet upstairs, mopping and waxing the wood floors and other shit that was on the damn list for today. It was already around eight, so if I started now I should be done around midnight and will be able to sleep in if I'm lucky. So, I immediately got started.

For the past few hours, I did nothing but work. Even though there was nothing to fucking clean. I've been scrubbing down clean marble twice a day for this whole fucking week, but I knew if mom came home and even saw one speck of dust anywhere she would be livid.

I had just finished waxing the floors downstairs and just had to vacuum and I would be finished for the day, but right now all I wanted to do was rest. It was around 1 a.m., cleaning the living room took far longer than I thought, so I was exhausted and just needed to lie down for a few minutes before finishing up.

"Five minutes," I flopped on the couch, placing my arm over my eyes, "just five minutes, then I'll go back to work…"

...

I didn't really remember falling asleep, all I knew was that I closed my eyes and the next time I opened them it was light out. I looked over at the clock to see that it was 10 a.m. Well, I got to sleep in like I wanted to I guess, but I know that since I wasn't able to finish the chores from last night and slept later than I wanted to I'd be up late again doing the same fucking chores all over again.

I slowly sat up and raised my arms over my head to stretch the crick in my back before standing up. I might as well have some breakfast. I could just tell myself that I was ravenous and needed the food for energy through the day, but if I could be honest I was still full from having dinner with Haruhi last night and was just going to eat breakfast stall from doing my chores.

I grabbed a box of cereal I bought at the beginning of the week from the cabinet, along with a bowl and got the remainder of the milk that was left in the carton. I would have to go to grocery shopping soon. It has been a week, so I guess after cleaning a bit I would take a break to go shopping for a bit. Ever since Kyoya gave me a debit card last week, I've only spent it on groceries and getting gas for my car. I still felt guilty using money that wasn't mine so I'm not trying to spend that much, even though he keeps telling me he doesn't mind as long as I'm spending it responsibly, but I still felt uncomfortable using it.

As I opened the cereal box, my ears perked up when I heard the beep of a car being locked outside but thought nothing of it. Probably somebody was visiting a neighbor so they parked outside of our house so I just shrugged it off, but as I was about to pour the cereal into the bowl I froze when I heard what sounded like the front door being unlocked. It-It couldn't be them, right? Mom said they'd be gone for another week, but who else would have keys to our house?

"Home sweet home." Heard Isao happily sigh from the other room as the front door opened.

My body felt as if it turned into complete stone as I heard Isao and mom enter the house. What the hell were they doing back home so early? I wasn't ready for them to come home yet. I was only halfway through the list. Oh fuck, mom was going to kill me. Please let her be in a good mood.

"Hikaru!"

I flinched as she yelled out my name. I guess she wasn't. I slowly turned towards the living room and gulped as I tried to find my voice to respond back before she got angrier.

"Ye...Yeah..?" I forced out after a few moments of frightening silence.

"Get your ass in here right now!"

Even though all I wanted to do was just run and hide away, my body just listened to mom's command like it was programmed to. I slowly poked my head into the living room to be greeted by my, more drunk than usual, mother. She must've drunk a lot on the flight home since she wasn't allowed to bring her own alcohol on board. She didn't look drunk at all. It looked like she just stepped out of a magazine with her pearl white blouse and dark ash grey blazer and pencil skirt. You wouldn't even suspect that she was drunk just by looking at her, but you just stared into her glazed over, bloodshot eyes, you could easily tell that she was intoxicated.

Mom motioned me to come over with her finger. "Come here."

I didn't know how I was able to do it since my body felt so heavy from the fear, but I was able to drag myself over to where mom was standing. I knew she was angry by just her dark aura that was protruding from her body, and I most likely knew why.

Once I got up to her, I gave her a look that a frightened puppy would give to their abusive owner. "Y-Yes mom?"

"What is this?" She hissed out as she motioned to all the cleaning supplies that were spread out throughout the living room.

I didn't know that they were coming home early or I obviously would've cleaned up everything because I knew mom would've been angry by the mess I left out.

"Sorry mom, I was cleaning last night and must've left them out." I looked back up at her, hoping that she wouldn't get mad at me as I continued. "I was just cleaning the house as you told me to and-"

"Let me see the checklist."

"Huh?"

"The fucking checklist I left you. Let me see it so I can see how many chores you did." Her expression hardened. "Because by seeing that there is no meal prepared for us, you haven't finished them."

"I'm sorry mom, but you said you'd be gone for two weeks and-"

"Of course you have fucking excuses." She grumbled. "I told you about the chores you needed to do. I don't care if we came back the exact same day. I expected them to be finished and you welcoming us back home like a normal son who loved his parents would do."

"Mom…"

"All my fashion friends' kids support their family and actually care about them and what do you do? Nothing." Her words were like venom, hurting me more and more with each word she said. "Like a worthless sack of shit that you are. You are really like your father, and it's pathetic."

She then bumped shoulder with me as she passed by and made her way to the kitchen. She may have not hurt me physically, but what she just said to me hurt worse than her hitting or kicking me. Mom knew dad was a sore subject to all of us and would only bring him up mostly to hurt us...was what mom said true? Was I turning into dad? I never abandoned anyone, but was I not caring about my family enough? If I did, then mom wouldn't compare me to him so much...maybe I am a bad son…

* * *

For the remainder of the day, I stayed in my bed. I felt too depressed to do anything. All I did was just stare at my wall as I had the TV on for background noise. What mom said to me kept playing in my mind and no matter how hard I tried to think of anything else it wouldn't help anything. I knew I was nothing like my dad, I cared about my family and tried my best to take care of everyone, even if it meant for me to get hurt...but what if I get sick of everyone? Would I leave as well..?

I stared at the lights coming from inside the house as I sat in my car. Mom forced me to go out and get take out since I didn't make them a meal this morning. I knew that I had to go back in soon or mom would get even angrier with me for taking so long, but...I just wanted to stay out here, watching the rain as it hit my windshield. It was actually calming and made me somewhat forget about all the shit that happened today, but as I kept staring at that haunting house, it would make my nerves skyrocket more each time.

I took out my keys from the ignition and grabbed the bag of take out that was in the passenger seat. I knew if I waited any longer the food would begin to get cold and I didn't want to deal with mom's insults anymore tonight.

"God, finally." I heard mom grumble as I entered the house. "Took you long enough."

Mom snatched the bag from me before I could even hand them to her then placed the bags on the dining room table before taking out each carton and opening them to see what was inside, and by home mom's face scrunched up she wasn't very happy with the order.

"This isn't the fucking order I gave you." She hissed. "I asked for kung pao chicken not sweet and sour!"

"But I wrote down everything you said...I even read it back to you and you said it was right…"

"Well, you must've written it wrong because you got my fucking order wrong," she pulled out another box and growled, "and got Isao's wrong too!"

"I'm sorry." I whispered. "I'll go back and get the right order."

"There's no fucking point now!" She grabbed the last box in the bag and opened it. "And what is this? Food you got for yourself?!"

"Actually that's-"

Before I could even finish mom threw the food down on the floor, splattering it all over the floors I just cleaned hours ago…

"Now you're going to starve just like the rest of us!" Mom snapped as I just stared down at the splattered food on the floor.

That wasn't food that I ordered myself, it was Isao's and the one mom was looking at before were the sides she forced me to get. I did order something for myself but I ate it in the car because I knew mom would've done something to it. Maybe I did get the orders wrong. I'm pretty sure that I heard the orders mom gave me correctly, but now that I think about it I can't be sure…

"I'm sorry mom." I apologized again.

"God, no wonder your fucking father decided to leave this God-forsaken family. He wanted to get away from the burdens in his life like you." Her glare hardened and she clenched her jaws in rage.

Did she really blame Kaoru and I for our dad's disappearance? That would explain why she abuses us, but it couldn't be our faults why he left. He seemed to always enjoy being around us and said he loved us, even if we were brats...but what if all of that was a facade and he left because he could handle having shitty kids like us...like me…

"I should've followed his lead and left you as well, then maybe my life would actually be worth living but no, I have to take care of you but I'm finished!"

I finally looked up at mom when she said those last few words, terrified what she meant. "What do you mean by finished?"

Mom growled furiously before roughly grabbing my arm and tugging me up the stairs towards my room. She found the first bag she could find in my room, which was an old duffle bag, and shoved it in my chest.

"I want you out of my house."

"Wait mom no, please don't do this." I begged, but it was as if my pleas only hit deaf ears. "If this is about the food then I-"

"It's not about the fucking food!" She shouted as she began yanking some of my clothes off their hangers. "It's about all the shit you've done these past years and I'm sick of it!"

"Mom please," I cried as she began shoving clothes into the bag, "I'm sorry for everything. Please don't kick me out."

She didn't listen to me and continued to shove my clothes in the duffle bag before zipping it up and lead me back downstairs. I was literally an emotional wreck once I got outside. I didn't know what to do, where to go. I was going to be homeless if I couldn't convince mom to let me stay.

"Mom…"

"Give me your keys." She demanded as she held out her hand. "I don't want there to be any possibility of you getting back inside."

"Mom please let me stay. I have nowhere else to go." I sobbed.

"You have that Ootori friend of yours that you stayed with before. Just go over to his house and cry to him. Maybe he'll actually give a shit about you?" Her teeth grinding as she grew angrier. "Now give me your keys."

"But-"

She grabbed my arm tightly, making me cry out as she yanked me up to her, giving me a dark, murderous glare. "Give me your fucking keys Hikaru or I'll break your fucking arms and take them myself!"

I began to feel my body began to tremble and I reached into my pocket and gave her my keys. She snatched them out of my hand before pushing me back away from her and the door, making fall back hard on the pavement. She hardened her glare at me one last time before slamming the door closed and locking it.

I just sat there, hugging my duffle bag to my chest as more tears began running down my face, mixing with the water from the rain. Mom actually threw me out, leaving me homeless with no real place to go. I knew that mom was upset over dad, but I never would've thought that she blamed Kaoru and me for him leaving. I just thought she hated us because we were a product of him, but now I knew the real reason why.

I looked over at the quiet street. Where the hell was I going to stay tonight? Mom took my keys so I couldn't sleep in my car and Kyoya is...wait Kyoya! I couldn't believe I forgot about him. I could just call him up and he'll come to get me and I could stay with him for a while until I can get a place of my own. A huge wave of relief washed over me, but it sadly was only short-lived because when I took out my phone and tried to use it I saw that it was dead. Just fucking great!

I whipped the tears from my face and got up before walking over to the curb to sit down on underneath a tree to shield me from the rain. I didn't know where to go tonight. Kyoya's and Haruhi's houses were too far for me to walk to and I couldn't take a bus because I had no change and they're all probably closed this late at night. I could try to walk to the motel Haruhi and I went to after Kyoya's party, but with a car that was a twenty minute drive, so I couldn't even imagine how many hours it'll take to walk there, but it was better than just sitting on a curb in front of my (now former) house in the rain.

I let out a sigh as I stood up before throwing my bag over my shoulder and began my way to the motel out of memory. Hopefully, I actually remembered where to go.

…

I didn't know how long I have been walking, but it felt like an eternity. The rain has stopped and I knew that I must've walked for a few miles because I was out of surrounding neighborhoods around my town and getting into the business section of the town and I wouldn't like to admit it, but I was fucking lost. I didn't recognize any of my surroundings when I was driving home those few months ago. So, it was most likely that I took a wrong turn and was now going the completely opposite way.

I was able to find a map at the next bus stop and tried my best to read the tiny words in the dark and after a few minutes of examining I confirmed that I was indeed going the opposite way.

"Fuck." I cursed as I sat down on the bench, putting my head in my hands.

I wasted hours walking to the opposite side of town and now didn't have any energy left. All I wanted to do was go home. I know that mom would still abuse me but at least I would have a roof over my head and a bed to sleep in. I let my hands drop and looked down at the duffle bag mom packed me. I wonder if there were any warmer clothing in there that I could wear to keep warm tonight. I might've been wearing a hoodie and my leather jacket, but I was damp and it only made me feel colder.

I put the duffle bag in my lap and unzipped it to see what was inside. There were about a few scrunched up shirts and a pair of black jeans, but none of them looked any warmer than the clothes I had on now. I sadly sighed and was about to zip up my bag when I noticed headlights from an oncoming car coming towards my direction slowly as if they were studying me. A part of me wanted to take off in fear it was someone who was planning to hurt me, but the other part of me didn't care and was too tired to move, but as the car grew closer I recognize that it was Isao's car. What the hell was he doing out here so late, and in this part of town?

The car pulled up to the bus stop and the window rolled down to reveal a worried Isao.

"Oh thank God," he said, which only confused me further. He might've been in his room while mom kicked me out, but he should've been able to hear us fight, "I've been looking for you everywhere. Your mother and I have been worried sick."

Mom was worried about me? But she's the reason why I was here in the first place. Could she have forgotten...but it's only been a few hours.

"Come on," Isao unlocked the door to his car, "let's get you home."

I narrowed my eyes at him but decided to just listen to him. I just wanted to go home and collapse in my bed, even if it was in the same house as my demonic mother. I zipped up the duffle bag and got into the car. I remained silent the whole car ride home, just laying my head solemnly on the window as I stared out of it, watching everything pass by as we drove home. Isao tried to start up a conversation with me but soon gave up when he saw that I was far from wanting to talk. The only time I looked away from the window was to look at the clock, seeing that it was just past midnight. I have been walking for four hours, but it felt far longer.

The drive home was around twenty minutes and as Isao turned off the ignition I looked over at him.

"How did you find me?" I asked in a weak voice.

"I used the GPS tracker on your phone." He answered. "Your type of phone has them already installed into them so after finding the password for the account I track your location."

"But my phone was dead. So how could you have-"

"Oh, your mother just opened the door for us." He said as he took off his seatbelt. "Let's go show her that you're ok."

I looked over towards the front door and saw mom standing in the doorway with her arms crossed and I could almost see the black aura surrounding her being. I gulped before opening the door with a shaky hand and stepped out of the car.

"Hikaru!" I jumped as mom yelled and came charging over towards me.

I grew terrified and tried to back away from her, but my back hit Isao's car, trapping me. As mom finally reached me, I tensed my body to prepare myself to get hit, but all she did was roughly grab me and put me into a tight hug.

"Oh my sweet baby, I was so worried when I woke up and saw that you were gone."

That's why she was letting me back inside. It wasn't because she had a change of heart, it was because she fell asleep and forgot that she kicked me out. If she hadn't fallen asleep...I would still be out there for God knows how long.

"Sorry mom," I apologized softly, "I went for a walk to clear my head and got lost. I'm sorry…"

"Aw," mom separated from me and placed a hand on my cheek, my body instinctively stiffening by her cold touch, "it's alright baby, but tell me next time you go out so I won't be worried sick, ok?"

Mom wasn't acting like her usual drunk self. She had far more energy and seem to be speeding through her words. She did have sudden mood swings and was forgetful, but not at this extent and her energy was usually sluggish. It was almost as she was back on…

I looked into mom's eyes and my stomach dropped as I got my confirmation. A couple tears escaped and trailed down my face, buy mom didn't seem to notice.

"I promise mom. I'm sorry…"

* * *

A few days passed by and nothing bad has really happened at home. Mom was still acting overly motherly that it was sickening so I tried to hide in my room to stay away from her. The worse she did to me was that she slapped me for giving her "attitude," but after I apologized she became overly sweet again.

I was glad when the weekend was finally over and I could go back to school. Haruhi was finally back, and even though we fully made up on Friday, I was still shocked that it wasn't awkward between us. It actually felt really refreshing to have my friend finally back and to have someone I actually like to eat lunch with again. She was far better company than Mari, who seemed somewhat upset that Haruhi and I were talking again and began avoiding me, which I didn't mind at all.

The school day ended and Haruhi and I parted ways, by my displeasure, and I went to the library for tutoring, but as I got there I was surprised to see that Kazukiyo wasn't there. He was never late to tutoring, and it actually made me grow worried as about twenty minutes passed and he still hasn't shown up.

I tapped my pencil impatiently as I continued to wait for him, growing more and more concerned at each passing minute. Should I go look for him? What if some guys were trying to pick a fight with him because he was an easy target and he had no way to defend himself? I should try to find him just to make sure that everything is alright then we could start our tutoring session.

"Hikaru."

I jumped by the sound of someone saying my name and looked up to see Haruhi smiling down at me from across the table.

"Haruhi, what are you doing here?"

"I'm here for our tutoring session stupid." She replied as she sat down and began getting her books and supplies out.

I furrowed my eyebrows in confusion. "Tutoring session? But Kazukiyo-"

"After we made up last week, I requested to the chairman if I could become your tutor again. I had to get permission from the class president first but he said he was willing for me to take over. He likes you, but he thinks that you learn better by the way I teach, so he believes this arrangement is better for you."

I just watched as she continued to get everything ready for our tutoring session. Was this really happening? After all the shit that's happened to me over the past few months, this was hard to believe. I did feel a little sad that Kazukiyo wasn't my tutor anymore since we have become pretty good friends, but I know that he was doing this because he knew it was the best for me.

Maybe, just maybe my luck was finally starting to turn around.

Haruhi opened her textbook and looked back at me, the same smile that I loved on her face. "Ready to get started?"

I just stared at her for a few more seconds until the shock finally wore off and I smiled back her.

"Yeah, let's get started."

* * *

 **Hey guys, I hoped you like this chapter. I also hope that I made some of you guys relieved because Haruhi isn't actually pregnant. I was just planning to keep you guys on your toes and I guess it worked XD. Anywho, thanks for all the support for this story. I really enjoy writing it and have now finished a whole thick notebook just dedicated to this story, but I bought a new one so I can continue to write.**

 **Also sorry if the updates are all over the place, I'm finishing school and got a job so my hours are a bit wonky, but I'm making as much time as I can to writing. So hopefully I don't have to make you guys wait that long for the next update.**

 **Please Favorite, Follow, and Review. Until next time.-HH1957**


	20. Chapter 19

**Haruhi**

A month has passed and winter had finally begun to turn into spring. Coming with warmer weather and the sprouting flowers, Haruhi believes that she had finally fixed hers and Hikaru's relationship to how it was before all that shit that happened between them. She may even say that they have gotten closer.

They spent almost every second at school together, only separating if either of them had to go somewhere privately, but they always waited for each other. Usually, it annoyed Haruhi whenever someone was so clingy to her, especially when it was Tamaki. She had to literally place boundaries for him because he wouldn't leave her alone, but with Hikaru it was different. She didn't know why really, but she actually hated when he wasn't around her and would actually search for him if she didn't know his whereabouts. Maybe it was the protective side of her that made her feel this way. If he wasn't in her sight he could get hurt, so she just wanted to be with him so he'll be safe.

She also began making lunches for him (which he first protested her to do) and she's rarely ever done that to any of her friends, even the Host Club when she was apart of it. Though Hikaru it was as if she needed to make food for him because she knew he wasn't eating the greatest at home all the time and if she made him meals she could actually see him eat.

During their falling out, she noticed that Hikaru had dropped a significant amount of weight, which was most likely from the fact that his mother rarely fed him. He wasn't bone skinny, but just by looking at him it was easy to tell that he dropped about five to ten pounds, but he looked scarily ill some days. His skin would be pale and he'd have dark circles under his eyes as if he didn't get any sleep for days and his clothes were getting baggy when they use to firmly fit his fit body, but after they became friends again his health has improved immensely. His skin has gone back to its normal peach color and he looked well rested most of the time. He was now back to a healthy weight and fit back in his clothes, and quite good if Haruhi might add...but she wouldn't say that out loud.

Haruhi smiled as she began forming a rice ball in her hands as she began making Hikaru's and her lunch for tomorrow. He told her earlier that morning how much he was craving tempura so she decided to make that along with some Italian food because he wasn't the biggest fan of rice balls since he said they didn't have enough flavor.

 _'Ok, so he loves spicy food, but only if it has flavor and not just heat. He also detests cilantro, which I soon learned by making a hot pit the usual way I make it since dad loves the herb, and Hikaru literally almost spit his food out then spent the next half hour picking it out, and even though there was still some in his bowl after he made it to please me.'_

Haruhi chuckled at the memory and placed the finished rice ball in her bento before closing the top of it and putting hers and Hikaru's in the refrigerator. All she had to do now was finish up dinner and start studying for next week's assignments so she could write some notes for Hikaru to help him during their tutoring sessions, but as she was about to go check on the stewpot she was making her phone dinging drew her attention away.

"I swear to God if it's Tamaki senpai again I'm blocking his number." She grumbled as she made her way to her phone on the dining room table. "I guess me ignoring him doesn't process through his thick skull that we're fucking over."

She snatched her phone off the table and was about to shut it off when she saw that the message was from Hikaru. Her glare fell and grew a bit concerned. Unusually he called her to talk about whatever was on his mind and texted her whenever he was upset or he was forced to be quiet by his mother and didn't want to risk getting in trouble by calling her. She opened his text and read the message he sent her.

 _'Can I come over?'_

This late at night? It might've only been around eight but it was rare for her to have guests over this late, but if he was asking to come over there had to be a good reason why. She replied to him, _'yes'_ and not even a moment later there was a knock at her door. There was no way in hell that he could've made it all the way here that fast. Was he just waiting outside her apartment hoping that she'd say yes? If so, whatever happened at his home must've hurt him greatly. She opened the door a crack to see an exhausted looking Hikaru, who had a fresh bruise on his left cheek.

"Hikaru…" She quietly gasped as she opened the door the rest of the way.

"Sorry, I know it's late but…" his eyes met hers and she could see the mixture of all the emotions he was feeling at that exact second, "I really can't handle being at home right now."

"God, Hikaru what happened?" She asked as she cupped his cheek.

He winced at her touch but allowed her to keep her hand there as he answered. "I don't know. Everything was fine at first. She was actually being caring and didn't seem intoxicated so I thought that she might've actually been sober today, but when I didn't say that I loved her back because I didn't hear her say it she snapped. Calling me worthless and other names, and even though I apologized and said I loved her back she didn't believe I meant it and slapped me. She then began acting aggressive, a complete 180 from what she was moments before and I didn't feel safe to home with her. She's been becoming far more violent and unpredictable ever since she's been back on…"

His sentence soon grew silent and he looked away.

"What do you mean 'since she's been back on?'" Haruhi asked as she drew her hand back.

"Nothing," he softly answered, "can I come in?"

"Sure." She stepped aside to let Hikaru in and followed him to the dining room, where he slumped down in one of the chairs. "Did you eat already? I'm almost done making dinner."

"I'm fine." He murmured as he laid his head down in her arms. "You should eat and leave the leftovers for your dad when he gets home. I'm not hungry."

She hated when he gave her that type of answer. That was one of the main reasons he looked so sickly before. Other than smoking, his other bad habit was that he wouldn't eat whenever he was upset and since his mother abuse began again his weight dropped. She had to force him to eat once she discovered this unhealthy habit and that is how she got him back to a healthy weight again, so she wasn't letting him go back to his old habits.

"You have to eat at least something." Haruhi encouraged, which Hikaru just replied with a shrug. "If you don't want to eat the dinner I'm making now I have some leftovers from a couple of nights ago that I think you might like." He just grumbled that he was fine as he looked at the TV that Haruhi had playing in the background, drumming his fingers on the old wood. "Have you at least eaten today?"

His silence confirmed her suspicions and she glared at him before making her way back to the kitchen. He may not be hungry now because he was upset, but she knew if she didn't make him eat it'll only backtrack the progress they made. She put the leftovers for him in the microwave as she finished up her own dinner.

Hikaru's eyes shot open and he jumped as Haruhi slammed a fork down next to his meal and gave him a stern glare. "Eat."

"But I'm not hungry." He groaned, but Haruhi didn't back down.

"I don't care. You haven't eaten all day. I'm not letting you starve yourself because you're upset."

"But-"

"No buts, now eat."

Hikaru huffed before looking at the food in front of him in disgust as if Haruhi had just served him some roadkill from the side of the road. Yeah, it might've not been the most extravagant meal in the world, just some plain noodles with some olive oil and some shrimp, but it was Italian and he seemed to like it the last time she made it. He was just being a child.

Haruhi sat down across from him and began eating her own meal. For a few minutes they just ate in silence, well Haruhi did. Hikaru just began pushing his food around and poking at the shrimps as if they were foreign objects. Haruhi let out a sigh as she put her bowl back on the table.

"Hikaru, can you just please try to eat." She pleaded, making him look back up at her. "I know you don't feel hungry but I think it might make you feel a bit better if you got some food in your system." He looked back down at his food, seeming unsure. "For me."

He rolled his eyes back up at her, meeting her eyes for a few minutes before letting out a defeated sigh. "Fine, I'll eat."

"Thank you."

She watched as he took his time to stab a piece of shrimp and held it up to his mouth. Haruhi motioned with her head for him to eat it and with a groan he did, which made Haruhi smile.

"See, that wasn't too hard." She teased.

"Fuck off," he murmured, but from the faint smile on his lips told her that he was beginning to feel better.

He ate slowly, but he finished his first bowl in about thirty minutes and to Haruhi's delight he actually asked for another serving. She happily watched his mood change from dark and solemn back to his normal self and helped her clean up after the had finished eating. She didn't know why, but she's been feeling a bit different whenever she was around him lately. It wasn't a bad feeling, but it just felt weird. It was similar to the feeling she got when she was around Tamaki when she was first discovering that she liked him, but these feelings felt more intense.

But it couldn't be the same thing, right? She might've been over Tamaki being her boyfriend but she still wasn't over the emotional scar he left her for cheating, so she definitely wasn't ready to be in a new relationship. The feelings she was probably feeling right now was probably from her getting close to Hikaru and them becoming best friends that they have a strong bond and it's making her body feel all tingly whenever she's around him. That's what having a best friend felt like, right? She never really had one before so this was a whole new feeling to her. She did remember Hikaru confessing that he had feelings for her when they were drunk. Did he still feel that way? It's not like it really mattered to her or anything but what if the time during their fall out he spotted liking her that way?

 _'Why does that thought make my chest feel tight?'_

"Hey," Haruhi jumped a bit at Hikaru's voice as he walked up to her washing dishes with the rest of the silverware, "are you alright? You seem like you're arguing with yourself."

"Uh, I'm fine." She blurted out as she took the silverware from him. "Thanks for bringing me the rest of the dishes."

"Uh, alright…"

He walked away to put the leftover stew pot while Haruhi cursed to herself. Could she have embarrassed herself anymore? And why was she all of a sudden riled up? She was fine not too long ago, maybe she was just tired.

She finished the dishes and joined Hikaru on the couch, who was staring at his phone screen perturbed.

"Is everything alright?" Haruhi asked as she sat next to him. He didn't seem to have heard her as his eyes darted back and forth as if he was reading something. "Hikaru?" He finally seemed to hear her and turned to her. "Is everything alright? Is your mom texting you?"

"No, I don't think she even knows I left yet." He sighed out as he looked back at his phone. "It's Kaoru, the school is extending their New York trip for another semester."

"That's good, right? You wanted them extending the trip to be approved so Kaoru wouldn't have to come home to your mother's abuse."

"I know, it's just," he sighed as he ran a frustrated hand through his hair, "I'm glad that he's staying in New York till the end of the school year, but I miss him. This is the longest I've ever been separated from him. Before, the longest I was away from him was when he went to the hospital for about a month after mom beat him severely that one time, but at least I got the visit him. With him in New York, I can only Skype with him certain hours and it's not the same as having him here. I know I sound dependent on him, but it's just…"

"You two have been together since you were born." Haruhi finished, which Hikaru nodded to. "I completely understand Hikaru. From what Kaoru has told me, you two use to shut everyone out because they just saw you as 'the twins' and not as individuals. You only had each other until you finally joined the Host Club. I don't know the reason why you got kicked out, but Kaoru decided to stay because he made friends and didn't want to lose them."

"Yeah…" His attention turned towards the clock, seeing that it was almost ten. Haruhi noticed his jaw tensing up as he seemed to gulp. "I have to get going soon if I want to make it home before 10:30, but I really don't think I'll be able to sleep tonight in that fucking Hell house."

His eyes moved to his car keys that laid on the coffee table as if he was contemplating if he should actually go or not. Haruhi knew that when he got home and his mother found out that he snuck out he might get hurt more than he already was. What she did tonight was nothing compared to anything she has done in the past month. She had locked him in a closet for almost twelve hours with no food or water because he got marked tardy, only because she refused to let him leave for school because it was, in her own words 'too dangerous to drive in the rain. She also burnt his homework because he was doing that instead of having _'family time,'_ then punished him by hitting him a few times for embarrassing her because he failed the assignments.

What would she do if she was still up and saw that Hikaru had snuck out? Would his punishment be far worse than what already happened tonight? It had to be, she was already angry with him so there would be no way she'd go easy on him. Just the thought of his own mother hurting him always made her feel sick to her stomach. She couldn't just let him leave to go back to that place he's forced to call home.

"Why don't you just spend the night here?" Haruhi asked without thinking.

Hikaru looked back over at her surprised. She has never asked anyone to stay the night at her house before, let alone a guy (especially one she had slept with).

"Really?" Hikaru asked, still in a state of shock. "You're offering me to sleepover?"

Haruhi suddenly felt her face heat up a bit for some reason, probably because she just offered him to spend the night and in teen language that meant "sleeping together," but that was far from what she wanted to do.

"I don't feel comfortable seeing you go back to your house tonight. You mom has been more aggressive than usual. From what you told me before, she usually forgets why she's angry with you after she goes to sleep. So tomorrow morning you'll most likely be safe when you get home."

"But what about your dad? He'll literally kill me if he sees me here after midnight. Kaoru told me that when he accidentally fell asleep here the time when you were helping Tamaki see his mom, your dad freaked out."

He was right. Her dad like Hikaru a lot, but if he caught him in their house when he got home around three in the morning he'll most likely be pissed. She could just imagine what she would do. He might not hurt Hikaru, but he might threaten him enough to the point where Hikaru might be too terrified to be around Haruhi anymore.

But she just couldn't let him go home knowing that his mother was most likely still awake waiting for him, so she came up with another suggestion.

"Then how about instead of spending the night you just stay here until you know your mom will be asleep." She placed a comforting hand on top of his. "I wouldn't be able to sleep tonight if you went home now. Can you just stay here for a little longer?"

She could see that he was considering her request but was conflicted. She knew that if he stayed here he would escape his mom's wrath for the night but would she still be angry with him in the morning? He would still get a punishment if she did, and it could be far worse than what would have happened tonight.

"Fine," he exhaled, "I'll stay here for an hour or two."

"Thank you." Haruhi smiled, a smirk began tugging the corners of her lips, "maybe we can get some tutoring done as long as you're here."

He smirked playfully back at her. "You fucking wish." He stood up from the couch and began walking towards the direction of her room. "Since I'm the guest and I'm staying here for a few more hours I might as well snoop around a bit."

"Hey!" Haruhi protested as she followed him to her room. "Didn't you ever learn not to snoop through a girl's room?"

"I've literally seen you naked." He said as he opened her closet. "You literally have nothing else to hide."

She glared at him as she felt her face heat up. "Yeah, well...I've seen you naked too." She retorted, but it only caused him to snigger.

"Yeah, and I have nothing to hide." He chortled mischievously.

He began looking through some of her outfits she had hung up, making snide comments at all of them, saying they were either drab, cheap, scratchy, or an eyesore. Usually comments people made about her outfits didn't get to her but for some reason, it was affecting her right now. Maybe it was because Hikaru's mom was a fashion designer so he actually knew about fashion, but Kaoru was his twin and whenever he did the same thing it never bugged her. So why does it now?

"Ok, I get it." Haruhi grumbled as she marched her way over to him. "I have bad fashion sense. Now, will you stop criticizing my clothes." She slammed the door to her closer closed before Hikaru could insult anything else.

"I don't know why you're upset with me. You're the one who wanted me to stay over."

"Yeah, but I did so you could be safe for the night, not to snoop through my room."

He shrugged his shoulders as if it wasn't a big deal. It's not like you're hiding a fucking corpse in there or anything. So I don't see what the big deal is." He flopped down on her bed, laying his hand back in his hands. "But if you don't want me snooping in here than I won't."

Haruhi crossed her arms. "You know, you're a pretty bad house guest. Usually, guests don't look through their host's rooms and lay on their beds. They're actually supposed to be respectful."

He looked down at her as his smirk slowly returned. "Then why don't you join me? So then I won't be so 'disrespectful' because you'll be lying here with me."

"That's not how it works Hikaru." She rolled her eyes, but yet she actually felt tempted to take him up on his request and a part of it was because she knew that he was putting up an act for her. He was still hurting. He was usually extra clingy with her, but it would determine how severe the abuse was he sometimes wouldn't let her touch him. For the most part, he would just tense up a bit before accepting her touch but on a few occasions, he would gently push her away, saying that he was sorry. He once even had a full blown panic attack when she hugged him once, yelling at her to not fucking touch him and pushed her away. When he calmed down he was ashamed for what he did and apologized before telling her what his mom did to cause him to react that way. His mom had hugged him one night out of the blue while making dinner and within a few seconds held his head above the burning stove because he didn't hug her back quick enough, so he just reacted out of instinct that day when Haruhi hugged him.

She looked at the open spot next to him, sensing that he was pleading for her to take it.

"But," she exhaled, "maybe we can watch a movie together if you really want to sit together."

Hikaru's smirk grew and he scooted over to give Haruhi more room on the tiny bed as she joined him. She grabbed her laptop that Kaoru had gifted her last year and began searching for some movies to watch that she had downloaded on her drive.

"What type of movie do you want to watch? A drama, a rom-com, horror?" Hikaru didn't respond to her question after a few moments and when she turned to him she saw that his playful smirk was now replaced with a faraway look as he stared out the window of her room, seeming worried. "Hikaru?"

He blinked a few times as he broke out of his trance and looked back at Haruhi, giving her the best smile he could muster. "Sorry, I was daydreaming. What did you say?"

"Hikaru, you know you don't have to hide how you're really feeling around me. I'm here for you no matter what." His smile fell hearing those words and faced away from her again. Haruhi closed her laptop and pushed it to the side before turning so she could face him. "Are you still upset about what happened tonight with your mother?"

He remained silent for a few moments before letting out a quiet reply. "No, not really."

"Then what's wrong?"

"My mom," his voice was barely a whisper, "she told me last night that she always despised me. She said that she was the one who wanted to have kids so early in their marriage and when she found out she was having twins she was ecstatic." His voice turned brittle and began playing with the blanket with his fingers as he continued, "but she said once we were born I was too much of a hassle and I was the reason why Kaoru turned out 'bad' and 'disrespectful' like me. She told me that when she was driving Kaoru and me home when we were babies from a doctor's appointment late at night I was throwing a fit, and that caused Kaoru to throw one as well. She got so fed up that she thought about just dropping me off someplace alone, letting another family deal with me...and to this day she said she regrets not following through with it."

Haruhi was appalled. Yeah, parents get fed up with their children all the time, but a true parent wouldn't actually think about leaving one of their kids somewhere to possibly die while waiting for someone to take them. Haruhi was told from her father that she was an easy baby, but she did have her moments like all children do, but her parents wouldn't give her up for any other child in the world, no matter how great they were but with Hikaru's mother just saying that she thought about abandoning him so openly like that, even after all the abuse he's been through for so long. It seems this was the most painful wound she has given him.

"Maybe she didn't mean what she said." Haruhi tried to reassure. "She's just drunkenly ranting. Usually, people spew out bull shit they don't really mean."

"I know, but…" His words were like glass that was about to shatter, "usually when she's drunk she spills out everything she has been holding in while sober." He swallowed as if he was fighting back tears and placed his hands in his lap. "Last month, she confessed in a drunken rant that Kaoru and I were the reasons why our dad left…"

"Hikaru, you don't really believe that, do you?" He remained silent, looking down at his hands as he continued to fiddle with the blanket. He really did believe he was the reason. Maybe it was from how his mom always blames him that he got those thoughts in his head, or maybe he always thought he was the real reason. "Hikaru, it's not your fault why your father left."

"How do you know?" He asked, his voice cracking at the end. "What other reason could he have had to leave? He and mom seemed happy together and they always went on trips saying it was for business but what if he just wanted to get away from us?"

"Hikaru…" She gently placed a hand on his chest, immediately feeling his muscles tense up underneath. She thought that he might reject her touch by all he's been through these past few days, but to her delight, he accepted it and let her hug him.

"I may not know your father personally Hikaru, but from what you and Kaoru have told me about him, he's not the type of man that'll leave because of his children. None of this is your fault."

He was silent for a few minutes before laying his head on top of hers. "I wish I could believe that." They both remained silent for the few passing minutes. Haruhi didn't really know what to say to make him feel better since her other attempt failed. So, she just kept him locked in an embrace, laying her head in his chest as she heard the soft rhythm of his heartbeat.

"Can I ask you a few questions?" Haruhi whispered as she felt Hikaru began to lay down on his back, letting her rest her head better on top of his chest.

"Yeah, I guess."

She bit her lip, hesitant to ask what she wanted to, so she decided to ask the smaller questions first. "How's the scar on your chest from last month healing? Did it go away as you hoped?"

"No," he sighed out, "I think it's going to stay for a while, if not forever."

He began playing with her hair, running his fingers through it and twirling it to most likely calm down his anxiety.

"Have you ever hurt yourself because of everything that's happened at home?"

"Other than smoking, no not really."

Haruhi began tracing designs over his shirt with her finger, stalling from asking her last two questions, but she knew she had to ask them.

"What was the worst thing your mother has done to you?"

She felt him pause from playing with her hair for a few seconds before continuing. She could hear the sound of his heartbeat quickening a bit, indicating to her that it was still a raw wound.

"She…" He swallowed again and tried to steady his breathing. It seemed as if he didn't want to tell her and he didn't have to if he really didn't want to share, but he seemed that it was better to tell her and get it off his chest instead of keeping it inside any longer. "She tried to sell me for drugs."

Haruhi tracing seized and she looked up at Hikaru horrified. She knew about the times she made him and Kaoru get alcohol for her while they were younger, but selling her own kids for drugs? It just made her blood boil that a fucking parent like her exist.

"Do you think that's why she's been acting more bipolar than usual because she's been using?"

He slowly nodded. "Yeah, when she kicked me out that one night I saw that her pupils were dilated immensely, where I couldn't see any color but black. She hasn't been acting the same since they left for London, so I think she smuggled something over if that's even possible."

Haruhi just gave a small shrug before going back to tracing on his chest. She just had one more question to ask him but was afraid to know the answer. She bit her lip as she felt tears burning in her eyes and let out a shaky breath before finally asking her final question.

"Have you ever tried to take your own life, or thought about it?"

A few more seconds of tense silence filled the room, which only made Haruhi grow more nervous to know his answer before he finally answered. "Yes."

"Yes to which one?"

"Both." He breathed out. Haruhi gripped onto his shirt as she felt some tears escape, trying her hardest not to break down right there in front of him. "I only didn't do it because if I did I would leave Kaoru alone and I didn't want that. The night he almost died though, I thought he wasn't going to make it. I blamed myself for everything and knew I wasn't strong enough to live without Kaoru, so I tried to overdose. One of our former maids found me in the bathroom and rushed in to try and help me. She forced me to throw up the pills before calling an ambulance. I had to stay in the hospital for a week and when Kaoru woke up and found out what I did he just broke down, screaming at me. Calling me a fucking idiot and how dare I almost leave him because I thought he was dead." Haruhi didn't even have to look up at him to know that he was crying. "I've never seen him that angry before. He even hit me a few times despite us both being very weak, but I also never seen him cry that much either. After a few hits, he just cried and hugged me before the hospital staff had to take him back to his room. After that day, it still comes to mind but I don't ever do it because I know there are actually people who care about me. Kaoru, Kyoya," his eyes met Haruhi's who were glistening with just as many tears as his, "and you."

"Hikaru…"

Haruhi gently cupped his cheek, wiping a tear that was rolling down his face with her thumb before wrapping her arms around in a hug, which he slowly returned and placed his head in the crook of her neck. She gently ran her fingers through his hair on the back of his head as she let the comfortable silence around them linger. She had learned from the beginning that instead of trying to keep on a conversation with him, to just allow the silence to be comfortable, which she actually like very much. Keeping up a conversation could be exhausting.

"My mom didn't even care." Hikaru broke the silence. "She just said I was doing it to draw all the attention away from her and Isao recently getting married. Only visiting me once at the hospital over the week period I had to stay there, just to tell me how shitty of a son I was. She didn't even bother to pick me up the day I was discharged because she was too busy out drinking with Isao, that a nurse had to drive me home and look after me until mom got home. Then I got punished because the nurse saw mom and Isao wasted when they returned home. She beat me and said that she wished my attempt was successful, but I was just so stupid that I couldn't even do something as easy as kill myself right."

His grip tightened around her waist as if he was trying to draw strength from her. "She even bought me another bottle of pills so I could try again and she just sat there, waiting for me to take the pills and when I refused...and I got another punishment…"

Haruhi softly cleared her throat, to make sure her voice wouldn't crack from her crying. "Do you really think that's what your mom actually wanted? Even if she was sober?"

"No," he murmured his answer, "that's why I'm still trying to help my mom get sober, but I do think that she does blame us for my dad leaving. I think she also blames herself, that's why she has random outbursts, but she takes her anger out on us instead of herself."

"Hikaru, I don't think it's anyone in your family's fault why your dad is gone." Haruhi tried to assure and cupped his face with her other hand to make him look at her. His eyes were glassy with tears that were threatening to spill out. "If your dad really wanted to leave you guys he would've taken most of his belongings with him, but he didn't. You even told me he left his phone and laptop at home, which he needs for work. Also leaving a multi-million dollar company that he helped start to just get away from his family, that's almost unheard of. You may not agree with what I believe in, but I just want you to know that there could be other reasons for his disappearance other than you."

A few tears escaped his eyes and he placed one of his hands on top of hers, rubbing his thumb along her knuckles. "Thank you."

Haruhi smiled at him, which he gave a small one in return before Haruhi hugged him again.

"Haruhi I…" His words trailed off as if he was hesitant on what to say. "I'm glad that you're my friend."

Haruhi actually felt an ache in her chest as he said those words. She tried to shrug it off as it being sadness for Hikaru's home life but as she just laid there for the next few hours, in his arms as he slept, she realized the feelings were different. A feeling that she actually only felt once before, but this time it felt stronger.

Did he even feel the same way still? It's been months since he drunkenly confessed to her and then the whole drama between them happened.

 _'God, what am I going to do?'_

* * *

Hikaru had left before Haruhi had woken up the next morning, and who knows what type of acrobatics he had to do since they were literally tangled up together in the hug. She must've been a deeper sleeper than she thought.

However, Hikaru seemed to be in a far chipper mood this morning as she met up with him at school. He waited for her where he usually did outside the gate and smiled at her once he saw her. Did she always like his smile? He always had a nice one, but was it always that gorgeous?

Haruhi did her best to put those thoughts at the back of her mind as Hikaru greeted her. Haruhi had requested that they meet up half an hour early before school started, and even though Hikaru at first complained that she had woke him up early, he agreed to meet up. Although, Haruhi had to wake him up again a couple of times over the phone.

"Do you really have to put makeup on me?" Hikaru grumbled as he leaned back on his hands.

They had migrated over to the hedge maze so they could get out of the view of the other students. Hikaru just didn't want anyone to bother them while they hung out, and Haruhi felt the same way, but besides that reason, she just wanted to get away from all the jealous girls glaring at her whenever she was around him. She didn't care what anyone thought of her, but having people just glaring daggers at her and whispering behind her back gets annoying. Hikaru was an extremely handsome guy, and obviously so was Kaoru, but even though they were identical, Hikaru got more attention from girls because of his bad boy attitude and style. She's even heard them talk about all the...explicit things they wanted him to do to them. If only they knew that he was just putting up an act most of the time and was actually a lot softer, they probably would be disappointed. Haruhi liked Hikaru for who he really was, not who he was pretending to be at school.

He might still act a bit like an asshole to other people at school, but it was obvious to other people that he actually took a liking to Haruhi, and his demeanor has changed as well, but he still needed to work on getting along with other people. She had to stop him from getting into three fights this past week, one of them was because a guy flirted with Haruhi in an inappropriate way, and even though Haruhi would've loved to see Hikaru beat the shit out of him she didn't want Hikaru to get in trouble.

"Yes," Haruhi answered as she took out a small makeup bag. "I want to cover the bruise on your cheek."

"It's not that bad."

"It's literally two shades darker than it was last night. I don't want anyone getting suspicious."

He rolled his eyes. "They're not going to get suspicious. They'll just think I got into another fight and won't think twice about it."

"I don't care, I'm not taking any chances. Now come over here."

"Fine." He huffed. He scooted closer to her as Haruhi put a few drops of foundation on a makeup sponge. Hikaru watched her and began making a face as if he was disgusted at what he was seeing. "That's definitely not my color."

"Oh hush, it's going to look fine."

She gingerly grabbed Hikaru's chin to position his head correctly before lightly applying the foundation to his bruised cheek. He grunted a bit and winced every time she dabbed the sponge.

"It's not that bad, huh?" She mocked, earning a glare from Hikaru.

"How do you even know anything about makeup?" He grimaced. "You don't seem like the type of girl that would wear it."

"I don't wear it often, only on special occasions or if my friend Mei forces me to. I only know how to apply it because Mei forced me to sit through makeup tutorials because she wanted me to actually know how to do something feminine. However, the only things I learned was how to apply foundation and do a shitty smokey eye."

Hikaru chuckled. "Now that's a look I'd like to see."

He gave her a playful smirk, which actually made Haruhi's heart flutter, no, like actually flutter. What the fuck was happening to her? Was she actually developing feelings for Hikaru or going into cardiac arrest? The only other person she had fallen for was Tamaki, but she never felt it to this extent. Her cheeks heated up a bit and she just continued applying the makeup.

Haruhi used the remaining of the time to match Hikaru's skin tone because he was correct about the foundation she chose was the wrong shade, almost two shades lighter. But after some time, and some mixing of other products she had forgotten the name of that she had in her bag, she finally matched his color.

"Wow," Hikaru admired as he looked at his reflection on his phone, "I'm actually impressed that you were able to do this."

"Oh shut up, you're annoying," Haruhi grumbled as she put her makeup away. "Just don't ruin it. I worked too hard on it."

"I make no promises." He replied with a cheeky grin, only making Haruhi's face heat up again.

"I hate you."

…

Tutoring was difficult that day, well for Haruhi. She was having a hard time staying focus with Hikaru being so god damn close to her. His legs would occasionally brush up against hers and whenever he looked at her with those golden hazel eyes...fuck! She felt like a love-struck schoolgirl in one of those shoujo mangas. God, how was she just falling for him this strongly all of a sudden? She had noticed she had slight symptoms before, but they were never this extreme.

"Haruhi?" He snapped his fingers in front of her face, making her break out of her reverie. "Come on. Let's get started with your dance lesson."

Even though Haruhi wasn't in the Host Club anymore, she decided to continue to keep up the dancing lessons with Hikaru. His excuse for making her keep at it was that she was a commoner here and needed some way to impress the high elites here that wasn't her book smarts. So, to stop him from making more rude comments towards her and her poor financial upbringing, she agreed to it.

She looked up at the cloudy sky. "Are you sure it's a good idea to practice today Hikaru? It looks like it's going to rain any minute."

"We'll be fine. If it starts to rain we'll just end the lesson early." He smiled as he held out one of his hands for hers. "Now let's begin."

"Alright fine." She sighed in defeat as she placed her hand on his.

Hikaru began leading her through the music he had playing on his phone. The rhythm was smooth and Haruhi allowed herself to follow Hikaru's lead, but as she looked up at him, meeting his eyes she felt herself start to feel flustered again.

"Sorry." Haruhi apologized again as she stepped on his foot for the fifth time in the past few minutes.

Hikaru furrowed his eyebrows and stopped dancing. "Hey, are you alright? You've seemed out of it all day."

"It's nothing, I'm fine." Haruhi bluffed, but she could tell Hikaru could see right through it.

"Is it because of our conversation last night?" He asked, his voice quiet as if he was afraid to know her answer.

"No, no it has nothing to do with our conversation Hikaru. I was just distracted and kept stepping on your foot. Don't worry."

Hikaru nodded, but still seemed unsure if she was telling him the truth. Though, as he was about to start leading him through the dance again, a few drops of rain began to fall.

"It's beginning to rain." Haruhi looked up at the sky, seeing the rain began to grow harder. "We should start to head inside."

"Where's the fun in that?" Hikaru smirked as he wrapped his arms back around Haruhi's waist. "A little rain never hurt anyone."

"Well, the last time you stayed out in the rain you got horribly sick."

"We're staying out here for a few minutes not the whole night." He rolled his eyes. "Let's just practice out here for a little longer then we'll cut our lesson off early and do something else if you want."

Why was he being so persistent on dancing with her in the rain? It wouldn't benefit her in any way. The grass would get all mushy and wet, which would only make her dancing worse...but, she wasn't fully opposed to the idea. Seeing him drenched in the rain while he danced with her, giving her that cute smirk her always gave her.

 _'Get yourself together Haruhi. What's getting into you?'_

She cleared her throat, trying to not show the embarrassment she was having from her thoughts.

"Fine, but only for a few minutes."

Hikaru's smile widened and began leading her through the movements again, and even though the grass was becoming wet and slippery, she found herself actually doing better than she was before. Whatever Hikaru was doing to help her not slip while dancing was working, or maybe this was all her. Hikaru didn't seem to have that much control over her like he did when they first started their dance lessons, and by the smile on his face, he seemed to agree.

"You're doing great. I'm actually amazed."

She chuckled. "Well, I have a great teacher."

"I know, I'm the best, aren't I?"

She rolled her eyes again, but before she could quip back she felt her foot slip from underneath her. She gasped as she felt herself fall back and instantly closed her eyes as she waited for the impact of the ground, but she felt a pair of arms grab her.

"Are you ok?"

Haruhi slowly crept her eyes open to see a concerned looking Hikaru. She felt her face heat up for what felt like the umpteenth time that day as she noticed the position they were in as if he had dipped her in a dance. The way he caught her, and them both drenched in the rain made it seem as if they were in a chick flick.

"Ye-Yeah, I'm fine." Haruhi breathed.

"Maybe we should go inside." He helped her up, but Hikaru kept his arms around her waist so she wouldn't slip again. "The rain's getting pretty bad. So we probably should-"

"Hikaru?" He looked down at her, meeting her eyes.

"Yeah?"

"Do you still like me?"

He grew confused by her question. "What do you mean if I still like you? You're literally my only friend."

"I mean, do you still 'like' me?"

He remained confused for a few minutes before it finally clicked in his brain and his face turned scarlett. "Wh-What?!"

"Do you?"

Hikaru cleared his throat, the blush still very well visible on his cheeks as he looked away shyly from her eyes. "Well, to be honest, my feelings never changed about you. I just put them aside a bit because-"

"Would you like to try?"

He looked back down at her, completely in shock by what she was asking. "Wait, do you mean..?"

Haruhi nodded. "Would you like to try going out on a date?"

Hikaru was speechless but seemed to be trying to figure out what to say. Could he be having doubts? Maybe Haruhi should've waited a bit, but he did say that he still liked her. So why was he taking so long to answer? Maybe he was thinking that she'll abandon him again like the time they slept together, but she wasn't going to allow that to happen again.

The argument Haruhi was having with herself stopped when she saw the smile form on Hikaru's face, making her chest tighten up and smile as well.

"I would love to go on a date with you Haruhi Fujioka. You have no idea how long I've wanted this."


End file.
